Fantasia - The Return
by AkabaraYashiki
Summary: Blending the "Forgotten Portrait" ending with the "Together Forever" ending, Ib and her older sister Mary are 16 now, in high school. Their class is visiting the Weiss Guertena gallery; Mary elects not to go but is unable to persuade her sister. A familiar face, a strange new girl, and a gallery of mysteries. Garry X Ib. Lots of Guertena backstory.
1. Prologue-Impossible Dream

**AUTHOR'S NOTES**

Hey guys, this is my first time writing fanfiction so please, bear with me. I love this game but unfortunately, the endings (most of them), were very sad. So here's a new "end" or maybe the correct word here is "continuation". For everyone who likes the Ib and Garry pairing, this is for you. For OCD purposes, I'll do a quick introduction of some of the main characters again, I've given all characters a last name just to be fair and because I feel like it would fit them to have these particular names.

-Kusakabe Eve 草壁イブ - (I will spell her name "Ib" for the story) a 16 year old student whose art class is attending Guertena's travelling exhibit.

-Kusakabe Mary 草壁メリー - Ib's sister and former painting subject of Weiss Guertena, age 16 physically.

-Otonashi Garry 音無ギャリー - An 18 year old man trapped in Guertena's gallery for the last 7 years.

-Weiss Guertena - A painter who grants life to his artwork by pouring part of his soul into their creation. His gallery has been on a travelling tour for the last 10 years.

*Ib and Mary's last name "Kusakabe" are formed with the words "Grass" and "Wall", the second character "kabe" is also the first character in the word "壁画" ( pronounced 'hekiga') meaning "wall painting". Perhaps alluding to Mary's origin and Ib's presence being "fresh" to all those around her.

*Garry's last name "Otonashi" is written with the words for "Sound" and "Empty", alluding to his 7 years of silence while confined to the Guertena gallery.

_**PROLOGUE - Impossible Dream**_

There is large ornate golden frame hanging from the wall. A beautiful lady in red with her arms around herself like the Mona Lisa was pictured in it. What a lovely woman, I thought to myself. Pity she's hungry. I turned my back to run and almost slipped on something wet on the ground. Yuck! Another one of those spitting paintings! I don't have time for this, I stumbled out of that corridor still being pursued by the hungry woman.

_Ib._ I froze momentarily in my tracks. Who just called out my name? I looked to my left and my right and even back at the woman. Nope, I didn't see anyone. I continued on, rounding a corner and narrowly missing a porcelain skull. A portrait directly beside it came to life; another lady wearing blue this time, just as pretty as the first bloodthirsty lady joined in the pursuit.

_Ib._ I stopped again. This time I definitely heard it. It was a man's voice; not too soft, not too deep. A sense of recognition swept over me but only briefly as I felt the fingers of a man-eating lady claw at my ankle. I began to run again, about a hundred meters in front of me was a blue door. I was so close! A headless mannequin in a hallway I just passed awoke and began to blindly trip after me. 100 meters became 50, 50 became 25; my breath was running out but I knew that stopping would spell disaster for me, another two headless mannequins were following me now along with the two painted women and the first mannequin. I reached the door, my fingers closed on the doorknob and I twisted it, flinging the door open. I slid in and closed the door behind me frantically. Loud banging could be heard from the other side, but I knew I was out of their reach now.

I came down hard on my knees panting, the taste of copper seared my throat. Swallowing hard, I clutched at my heart. I don't think I've ever run so fast before...

_Ib. _The voice. I looked around curiously, the voice was just as quiet as before, but definitely closer. Nothing, the room was empty. In fact, it was so empty, I realised that the black walls and black floors blended together.

Where was I? This place seemed all too familiar and yet, I could not recall it at all. I forced myself to swallow another gulp of saliva before looking up. Something blue was falling from the unseen ceiling. It was small, thin and danced in the cold air of the room before landing carefully on the hem of my red skirt. I reached for it with my right hand. It was a blue rose petal. Deep blue, like the colour of a sapphire. I glanced up again, more petals were falling now, dancing and twirling before landing near me.

"What in the world...?" I reached both hands into the air to catch the lovely petals only to realise that my left hand was clutching a blood red rose. Was I always holding this? I shook my head to clear it. This was weird, I feel like I've been here before...

_Ib. _

The voice was even closer now. Though I should be afraid, my mind was calm. I looked up again into the dark, "Who are you?" As if to answer me, a dark figure began to fall from above...


	2. Chapter 1-Field Trip

**AUTHOR'S NOTES**

Hello readers! I hope I didn't keep everyone waiting too long on this chapter, I really didn't want to move too fast. This chapter is short and introduces Ib and Mary in their school. I wanted to flesh out Mary and Ib some to show that they are in fact, sisters. Mary has grown into a graceful girl, befitting of high society like the family brought her up to be. Ib too has grown, though less beautiful than Mary, she doesn't let that get in the way of their sisterhood. While Mary is gentle and soft spoken, Ib has grown into a more rebellious and carefree girl. She can be sarcastic, and isn't afraid to voice her opinion. While Mary likes the study of Art History, Ib is more concerned with the creating of the art itself. (Augh, plot spoiler!) No new important characters are introduced in this chapter so there's no need for me to introduce anyone. Please enjoy, and wait for chapter 2!

_**CHAPTER I - Field Trip**_

"Ib...Ib...?" I blinked blearily. My view seemed to be warped and it took me a moment but I realised that the window ledge to my left was vertical and I was looking sideways out into the courtyard of the school. Raising my head, I gazed into at my sister's concerned face. Mary was about a year or so older than me; her long wavy blonde hair was neatly pulled back from her face today by a blue ribbon that matched the sky blue in her eyes. We didn't look alike at all; I had always wondered how Mary's hair was that brilliant shade of gold when mine was a drab brown with tinges of red. Her eyes were so clear and pretty while I inherited my mother's deep crimson gaze.

"What is it Mary?" My fingers balled into fists to rub my eyes.

"That's my question." Mary's lips pouted into a dainty little frown, "You feel asleep in art history again!"

"That's normal isn't it?" I ran a hand over the table and my notebook to brush off some eraser bits. There was a rose doodle in the margins of my half blank sheet of notes.

I was a repeat offender when it came to sleeping in history classes. I'd never been very interested in history, it was always so tedious and biased. Mary on the otherhand, loved all history. It intrigued her, she could read for hours about Monzaemon and his contribution to Japanese theatre or whatnot.

Mary rolled her eyes and adjusted her uniform tie, "Yes, I guess it is. But what have you been doing these last few nights? I get up for a drink at 3 am and the light in your room is still on!"

I snapped my notebook shut, "Oh, nothing important, I just started another painting."

"Ohhh! What's the painting of?" Mary reached beneath my chair and handed my bookbag to me, "Still life? People?"

I thanked her and put my notebook away,"My secret." I winked at her and got up, stretching. Class has just ended, some students were still in their seats packing up, my ancient teacher, Isana-sensei was wiping the chalkboard down.

"That's good, but you should still go to sleep early, it's not good to deprive your body of sleep." Mary smiled and linked her arm with mine, "Now, let's get going, mom promised sukiyaki tonight and you know how much I love that!" I laughed and we headed towards the door.

"Kusakabe-san, please stay after class for just a moment." Both Mary and I turned around. Isana-sensei was in his late 70s, his greying hair was in tuffs around the sides of his head, glasses hid his wrinkled eyes, and his dark skin was littered with a galaxy of sunspots.

"Sir?" Mary prompted.

"Kusakabe Ib, that is."

I waved my sister ahead and walked back towards the front of the classroom. Isana-sensei sat back down behind his desk and began to pull papers from his drawers. I came before his desk and stood at attention.

When he ignored me and continued to leaf through his documents, I felt the urge to speak up, "Yes sir?"

"Ah yes..." Isana-sensei pulled two papers from his pile and handed it to me, "You never handed in your field trip wavers."

"Field trip wavers?" I queried.

"Yes, you are coming to the Weiss Guertena exhibit with us next week aren't you?"

"Oh. Oh of course."

"Then please get these signed and bring them back as soon as possible."

I nodded and looked the two papers over, the first page was a parental consent and information form, and the second was a emergency contact form.

"Oh and, Kusakabe-san?"

"Yes sir?"

"Perhaps you could ask your sister as well." My brows furrowed.

"Is Mary not going?"

Isana-sensei reached for his stack of papers again and soon produced a new document, "She says due to her recent case of mono she would prefer not to attend long trips out of the city."

"Mito City is a bit far..."

"Yes but I believe that with her interest in European art history, she would love the exhibit. It's not everyday that our country gets a hold of a European travelling gallery."

I ran a hand through my hair and nodded again, "I will try to ask her."

"Thank you Kusakabe-san."

I bowed and left the classroom. The halls were flooded with students just out of class, at the entryway was a black car with all the windows up. Mary stood next to the school gates. She was tall for her age, her figure lithe like a ballerinas'. I couldn't help but envy her looks. There was a boy from class 4, I think his name was Irino Takei, talking to her. She blush furiously as he handed her an envelope. I could feel an amused smile rise to my lips; that's my sister for you, all the boys come knocking when she's in town. He turned and hurried away just as I approached.

"Ib!" Mary caught sight of me. I saw how bright pink her face was glowing and began to laugh. "I-it's not what you think!"

"Uh huh, is that the third one this semester?" I plucked the letter from her fingers, "You know, usually it's the girl that sends love letters, but I guess it goes both ways now..."

"It's not like I asked for this..."Mary looked over my shoulder at the letter in my hands, "Go ahead, you can read it."

I didn't need to be told twice, I tore the letter open with my index finger and pulled out the lined sheet, unfolding it gingerly, "To Kusakabe Mary, you are the most beautiful girl I've ever seen-" I had to stop and giggle, "your eyes are like the sea on a clear day by the beach, your hair like spun gold-" Unable to help myself any longer, I handed her the letter back and broke down into a fit of laughter. Mary was also besides herself with laughter, she clutched at her stomach and staggered over to the black car. Our chaueffer Amano-san, came out and opened our door for us. We sat into the vehicle still laughing hysterically.

"There _are_ still poets around!" I put my bag under the seat and sat back into my cushion wiping tears from my eyes.

Mary shoved the letter into her bag and pushed it under the driver's seat. "Ib, it's not nice to criticise someone's love letter that way." She said between giggles, "Well, I shouldn't really be talking!" We erupted into another fit of laughter. After a few minutes, we regained our composure. Amano-san was already driving homebound and the residential district was flying by on either side of the car.

"So, what're you going to say to him?"

Mary tilted her head and bit at her lip, "I don't really know him all that well so..."

'You're going to reject another one?"

"Geez, you make me sound terrible..." Mary took my hand and squeezed it, "All I really need is you, my dear sister. You promised me we'd be together forever remember?"

"Yes, I remember." I remembered telling her that sometime ago when we were really young. It was our little promise, that we would be sisters and best of friends forever. I don't remember why she asked me that out of the blue, but it probably wasn't important. I suddenly remembered the field trip wavers.

"Say, Mary are you going to the Guertena exhibit next week?"

Mary's smile seemed forced as she answered airly, "Oh, no, I don't want to risk getting sick again..." She dropped my hand and brushed her hair back over her shoulder, "You know, after you have mono once your immune system gets weaker to most other illnesses."

"I know, I figured I would ask since Isana-sensei said you'd love it."

"Did he?"

"Yeah he said since you were so interested in European art history you'd really like Guertena."

Mary smoothed her skirt with her long fingers. "Well...I don't really like Guertena's work."

"Really? I though surrealists were your favourite." I peered out the window. We were in the business district now; Amano-san has stopped before a crosswalk.

"They are...it's just..."Mary turned to me very quickly, "His work kind of depresses me, I don't like it." This was news to me.

"But you liked it just fine when we went to the exhibit when we were nine..." I remember going to a Guertena exhibit about 7 years ago, it was a small exhibition and back then neither of us really understood the art; I remembered I found myself intrigued with his many motifs of roses and mannequins. Mary had commented on his creativity too.

"Yeah...but...well you know how it is Ib, times change. I started to um, analyse his subject choices and...er, it's kinda dark you know?"

"I'm not sure I follow..." I murmured, knitting my brow.

Mary bit her lip again, "Well...like...the piece we saw called...what was it, "Death of the Individual"? Yes that's the one, the mannequins all wore the same thing. It's um...giving a physical form to the pressure of conforming to society, everyone becoming the same."

"Sure, I think that's pretty tasteful."

"But, it's just...so depressing..."

I stared back out the window. "I guess..." The light changed, our car scooted forward again. I gazed at the sky, it was windier now, the days were getting darker earlier. The colour of the sky dyed in various shades of pink, orange, blue and purple was just the most beautiful thing; the horizon was obscured by a building-filled skyline. I turned to look out the other window. The colour on Mary's side window was a deep purple-blue, a nostaligic shade for me. Why that was, I don't know, but that colour was so soothing to me, I felt safe and calm when I saw that colour. Sighing I closed my eyes.

"Ib?" I opened my left eye and looked at my sister. Concern was written all over her face, she looked almost nervous, like a rabbit hiding from a predator.

"What's wrong Mary?"

"Are you going to the Guertena exhibit?"

"Yes, why?"

Mary stiffened, "Well...you've already seen it before right?"

"Sure, but we were 9, I don't remember most of what we saw." I stared at my sister, she was looking at me in a strange way as if analysing my thoughts. I blinked and smiled awkwardly back.

Mary continued to look at me, then suddenly she returned my smile, "You're so forgetful Ib." She giggled and took my hand again, "Have fun then!"

"You sure you're not coming?"

"Yes, I won't change my mind." Mary gave my hand a squeeze and turned to look out her window.


	3. Chapter 2-Die Galerie der Guertena

**AUTHOR'S NOTES**

Hello readers! I'm back with chapter 2 of "Fantasia". This chapter covers Ib's return to Guertena's gallery and her return to, his "Fabricated World". There is one new character in here, her name is Edelweiss so a quick intro for her is in order.

-Edelweiss エーデルワイス - a girl from the gallery that Ib meets in the "Fabricated World".

Edelweiss is a very important character, I promise. All you readers waiting for Garry, well you won't have to wait much longer! Happy reading!

_**CHAPTER II - Die Galerie der Guertena**_

Mary didn't come to class today since most of the school was going on the field trip. I sat huddled in my warm red windbreaker jacket at the front of the bus by myself, no backpack in hand, only money for lunch and maybe a souvenir. Mito City wasn't especially far, but I did doze off about twenty minutes into the journey...

_ There was a vase made of fine glass in front of me. Water so clear and clean filled the vase to the brim. My eyes looked down at the two roses in my hands. The red rose was smaller, but quite healthy; its red petals though few, were all soft and silky to the touch. The other rose was a different story entirely; it was completely dark blue, so blue that it didn't seem possible for a natural flower to have that colour; there were only 4 petals on it and all of them were wilting off the stem. Gingerly, I placed the blue rose into the vase and watched as the miracle happened._

_ The rose began to heal. Slowly, but steadily the remaining petals shed the brown on their edges, the vivid blue center began to almost glow as the colour spread up from the rose's roots and blossomed into new petals. I counted to ten before the rose stopped producing petals. It was so pretty it took my breath away. Lifting it from the vase, I brought it close and sniffed it. A heavenly scent filled my nose and and I could not help but smile. I turned around to go._

_ Wait, where was I going? I blinked, confused. Staring back down at the roses, I could not place why I had two of them. The red rose was my own, that I was sure of, but who owned the blue rose? I was missing something but I knew not what...I turned to my left and went through a door before seeing a figure lying motionless on the floor..._

As the bus jerked to a stop, my eyes flew open. I was used to dreaming, but it wasn't often that I saw dreams that were so vivid I could recall them when I awoke. Just within this week, I'd dreamt two very similar dreams, both of which were so clear I could swear they were memories. Running a hand through my long hair, I recalled the blue of the rose in my dream. I always liked blue but my mother had always told me since I was young that red was more my colour. Most of my wardrobe consisted of colours that were warm, red, pinks, yellows, oranges and browns; very few articles of clothing were blue. I never did complain but I do remember wishing that my eyes were blue like Mary's so I could wear that pretty colour.

Presently, the bus stopped in front of the gallery. There was no room to park in this city, not unlike most cities in Japan, so the bus was scheduled to pick us up around 5:00. We disembarked the bus in an orderly fashion, I brushed off my windbreaker that I wore over my uniform: a sailor suit with a deep red skirt, as we approached the gallery. There was a banner in the entryway introducing the travelling gallery as "_Die Galerie der Weiss Guertena_". Isana-sensei stopped us all at the door and gave us a quick list of things to remember, when lunch was and some gallery rules before letting us go.

My friend Arikawa Yuuko asked if I wanted to explore the gallery with her, politely I declined her offer. She was always the chatty type and could never quite stay quiet when others were concentrating. I walked to the counter and picked up a brochure. Though I didn't remember much of my first trip to the exhibit, I did remember that it was a downsized version of the works Guertena made in his life. The current exhibit seemed to have expanded in the last few years since interest in the artist went up. I closed the brochure and stuffed it into my jacket pocket before taking stairs down into the basement floor of the gallery.

The first room I entered had a high domed ceiling made of aged plaster, the walls were mostly bare, in the center of the room was a large piece that I recognised. Several student were already in the room and it was getting crowded fast. I squeezed between two small cliques and made it to the center of the room. A large sculpture of a red rose stood erect, its bud facing the ceiling, petals were scattered on the ground beside it. The vine, like a whip was trailing like a snake all over the floor. A plaque had been nailed into a small podium beside the roped off display. I approached and read it.

"_Embodiment of Spirit. Beautiful at a glance, but if you get too close, it will induce pain. It can only blossom in wholesome bodies_..." I could not make sense of the description at all, frowning I turned away and walked into the next room.

The next room held several paintings, what stood out to me most were a portrait of a cat's face, a painting of coffee and cake, and a painting of a white snake. The cat looked familiar too, I approached it and stared into its eyes. It was so life-like, every brushstroke delineated its fur; its green almond eyes were staring carefully straight ahead as if looking through me. She looked like she'd start meowing right away. I giggled to myself, what a silly thought... I continued on to admire the coffee and cake which looked scrumptious, the snake was a plain white with a large garnet embeded in the canvas where his eye should be. I walked into the next room.

In here was a completely white portrait, a larger than life wineglass, a painting of a rose, and a large painting in the rear of the room before the next doorway. I approached the white portrait and was surprised to find that it was actually a completely white puzzle. The decription read millk puzzle. I don't remember who told me about milk puzzles but I remember that they said milk puzzles were very difficult to complete. I moved on to the wineglass. From up close, it was actuall a couch; a sign to its left read "_Please Try Me_". I gave the red cushion a tentative prod and decided against it. Further down was the rose painting. There was no plaque beside it meaning the artist didn't name it. The rose was in full bloom and looked so real I wished I could reach into the frame and take it with me. After a few more moments staring at the painting, I moved on.

The painting in the rear of the room was larger than the rose portrait and done in dark tones. The staff has done a poor job lighting it so I came closer to the frame. A small plaque was beneath the painting.

"_The Forgotten Portrait_..." I squinted to get a good look at the art. It was a roughly painted young man; he seemed to be asleep, leaning against a wall. His right eye was closed but a long sweep of wavy bangs obscured his left eye; he wore a peculiar looking coat that seemed more frayed than was fashionable. Something wet fell onto my hand.

Looking down, I realised that my vision had blurred considerably. My eyes had welled up with tears. They wouldn't stop falling, I closed my eyes, willing hard for them to stop. Why was I so sad? My heart felt like it was breaking... I gripped the bottom edge of the painting hard, why did it hurt to see this painting? There was something about this painting that made me strangely nostalgic, like I was seeing an old friend.

"Kusakabe-san?" Roppongi Karin, the girl that sat beside me in class had come up on my right, completely unheard.

I hurriedly wiped my tears off my face."Y-yes?"

"Is something the matter?"

"N-no, nothing's wrong..." I bit my lip and brushed my sleeve over my face again. I stared pointedly at her left shoulder and pretended to be interested in the stripes of her sailor collar, "Just...got some dust in my eyes. You know, old paintings..."

"Oh okay..."

I turned quickly and walked into the next room. I couldn't look at that portrait again, a sense of failure was flooding into my mind, I felt like I've forgotten something, something important, but I couldn't quite pin down what that was. I scrutinised the small room quietly, still swallowing my tears. A mural was on the back wall, I automatically approached it. A strong spotlight was on the colourful painting so I read the gold embossed plaque first.

"_The Fabricated World_." The moment the last syllable left my lips, I felt a tremour in the ground. The spotlight suddenly guttered out. I stared panicking, into the darkness. Then, the light turned back on. An unprovoked shiver ran up my spine. Just a moment ago, the museum was full of life, students were chatting loudly, their voices bouncing off the walls and ceilings of each room. Where once I felt the warmth of other people around me, suddenly the air felt devoid of all human presence. I could hear myself breathing and it spooked me. I turned to look back at the mural and saw that it was not a painting, but mere scratches of crayon on a large piece of paper. What was going on?

"H-hello?" My voice echoed off the walls in the room. Dread nipped at my insides; I strided quickly out of the room and looked around. No one.

"Is this...some kind of prank...?" I whispered quietly to myself. Nothing had change in this room, I glanced to my left and right then caught sight of the rose painting. _Wait..._ In three long strides I closed the distance between myself and the painting. Except, it wasn't actually a painting. The frame was actually a hole in the wall; inside the hole was a glass vase with the rose from the painting in it. A piece of paper had also appeared beneath the frame.

"_Second Chance...?_" I gulped before reading again, "_Right the wrongs, return the freed bird, and lock the cage again. Remember, know the weight of your life._" What did that mean? Right the wrongs?What bird? There were so many unanswered questions but no one to answer them. Trembling, my fingers reached into the frame and I plucked the red rose from its vase. Bringing it close, I was stunned at how lovely it was. Its petals, a deep crimson were velvety soft to the touch and the entire bloom seemed very healthy. Something told me I needed to protect this flower, I carefully tucked the long stem into the inner pocket of my white windbreaker and allowed the head of the flower to stick out, its petals stroking my face.

Suddenly, a sickening squelching noise sounded. I whirled around, alarmed; the noise had come from the room I'd just left. My heart in my throat, I approached the doorway of the next room again and saw to my disgust, something running down from the hideous "mural". From a distance it looked like blood, I had no intention whatsoever to approach it. Slowly, letters began to appear on the ground in the same perverted red on the floor. The letters snaked up towards me from the painting, I could just make it out from where I stood.

"_Welcome back Ib, come above_." I swallowed hard. This was becoming more an more bizarre, and yet I couldn't help but feel that I'd been in this same situation before. Turning, I returned through the doors I'd previously entered. A quiet meow echoed up the stairs I went, the entryway was empty. Curious, I tugged at the huge door and found it was bolted shut. Typical. I didn't expect it to work anyway. I mounted the stairs until I entered the second floor of the gallery. It was similar to the basement level, high domed ceilings with harsh lights that shone on the pieces of artwork. A huge floor piece was before me titled "_Gate of the Universe_". It was a painting of the night sky, billions of stars were glowing from within the canvas. I leaned in for a closer look.

Among the spray of constellations and meteors, there was a star to the left that was bigger and brighter than the rest. A small black dot was crossing in front of it. I squinted perplexed at it for a moment before realising what I was looking at.

"Of course, Venus." For people on Earth to be able to see Venus passing before the sun, Venus must cross the plane of Earth's orbit at the exact same time that Earth, Venus and the sun are lined up. I couldn't believe my own genius for a moment; all those times my father, an avid astronomer, read me astronomy reports were starting to pay off. Just then, that terrible wet paint sound could be heard again. I looked up from the floor piece and saw that the roped off area directly before me now had a gaping hole in it. Red footprints lead into the sky mural. I felt a sickening feeling of deja vu as I walked around the ropes and towards the footprints.

Standing directly on the footprints, I forced myself to stare at the sky in the floor. It seemd deep, almost like a hole that could swallow me. My fingers ran through my hair as I took a deep breath and stepped into the painting.

I began to fall.

The sky shot past me to the left and right, I was coming down a tunnel of some sort, that was bright and glowing with stars. I couldn't place how far I was falling or for how long but after what felt like 5 minutes, my rough descent began to slow. A second later, my feet found purchase on hard ground and my surroundings stabilised from a kaleidoscopic tunnel to solid black walls. I stared around. There was nothing I could see in this room; I brought my hands up towards my face and found that I could see my fingers just fine. Perfect, I was in a black room with light and nothing else. I walked tentatively to my right and promptly hit a wall. Great. My hands reached out trying to find something to identify where I was.

"Augh!" Something had emerged from the surface of the wall and was swatting at me! I stumbled away from the wall and saw a petal fall from my red rose. Once I was a few feet out of its reach, I realised it was an arm. A wholly grey arm had popped out of the wall and tried to attack me, I clutched at my heart and found that once again it was beating rapidly out of control.

"Who's there...?" I whirled around again, frightened by the voice. Behind me stood a young girl who looked just as frightened as I was. She was about my height despite her small face looking about 12. A white rose was woven into her sheet of platinum blonde hair that she wore to the left side of her face. A pale peach dress with white lace peeking out from the hems graced her curveless figure and her thin arms were wrapped around herself in a protective manner. When I took a step closer to her, she backed away, eyeing me suspiciously.

"H-hello. Are you lost too?" I took another step closer to her and she blinked at me but stayed where she stood. "I'm Kusakabe Ib, you can just call me Ib."

"I-Ib...?" I nodded encouragingly. "N-nice to meet you. I'm...Edelweiss." Edelweiss offered me a trembling hand, I shook it gingerly. Her fingers were small and soft, but lacking in all colour. She was cold to the touch and almost immediately broke the shake after only a moment. "D-do you know where are we?"

"I don't know..." I looked her over again. She was definitely European with her pale complexion, but her Japanese was flawless. "I don't remember seeing her in the gallery but she could have been upstairs. There had to have been several tour groups at the museum at the same time as us, she could easily be a lost child from one of them.

"How did you end up here?" Edelweiss's voice was curious but very timid, like a bell tinkling in a shop doorway.

I opened my mouth and shut it again, not sure how to respond. She'll think I'm completely insane I thought to myself. "I...I fell into a painting."

Edelweiss raised an eyebrow, "A painting you say?" She crossed her thin arms and knit her eyebrows together, "I was just standing in front of a portrait of a lady in blue when suddenly the whole museum started shaking! I thought it was an earthquake!" Edelweiss threw her arms up over her head, waving them maniacally.

I smiled. "Well, earthquakes are common place in Japan. You're a foreigner right?"

"Yes, I'm from Germany. This is my second time visiting Japan. I was just thinking how bad my luck was that I'd ended up in an earthquake on a visit. Then, I was here in the dark." Edelweiss gave an involuntary shiver.

"At least it isn't an earthquake." Unzipping my windbreaker, I removed my rose from it. I offered my jacket to Edelweiss.

"Oh! Y-you didn't have to!" She tried to give the jacket back but I insisted on her keeping it.

"It's fine, really. I'd just changed into my autumn uniform yesterday so I'm perfectly toasty."

Edelweiss smiled at me with an innocently sweet smile and accepted my jacket, draping it carefully over her small shoulders. "Thank you Miss Ib."

"It's no problem at all, Edelweiss. You can just call me Ib." I stared down at the rose in my hand. There was no place to put it, I was beginning to think I should have brought a bag.

"Um, about these roses..." Edelweiss pointed a white finger at the rose in her hair, "This just appeared on a table so I took it. There was a sign that said "Know the weight of your life." What do you suppose that means?"

"I think...our lives are now bound to these flowers." My fingers stroked the petals of the red rose, "I was just attacked by a hand coming out of the wall over there." Edelweiss's eyes followed the direction I gestured in but was unable to see anything. "A petal just fell off when the hand hit me." Edelweiss glanced behind me and then timidly looked away.

"I-I'm not good with scary things..."

I pat her shoulder comfortingly, "That's okay, stick with me, we'll find someway back out." Edelweiss looked at me with her pale gray eyes and then broke into a childish, trusting smile. I smiled back and said, "Okay, let's first try to get out of this room."

Both Edelweiss and I found a wall. Groping around, we were wary of more arms, but all the same, we could find no doorway out. After what seemed like a lifetime, Edelweiss sat down dejectedly on the ground.

"This is hopeless..." She folded her hands in her lap put her legs out straight. I too was getting tired of this farce. There must be some way out... Annoyed, I kicked the wall directy in front of me, sending a sharp pain up my leg. A petal fluttered off the rose in my hand. This is not good...

"Ugh...this is killing me..." I sat down with a thump beside the little girl laying my rose beside me gingerly. Staring into my lap, I tried to accept that I was stuck here, imprisoned forever. Maybe if I'm in another one of my vivid dreams, I thought to myself. Great, only my mind would come up with bizarre things like this...

"Ib...?" Edelweiss was tugging at my sleeve. I didn't realise I'd closed my eyes while in mid-thought, I opened them to look at her and found she wasn't looking at me.

She was looking up. I followed the direction of her gaze and found myself looking at a slowly expanding tunnel. The tunnel was the same entrance I'd come down from only now it was becoming more funnel shaped, like an inversed tornado, with the large eye coming down towards the ground. I bit my lip nervously. The tunnel was expanding slowly but surely, in a moment its liquid-like body had crawled down the black walls and dotted them with stars.

"What in the world...?"

"Oohh! I see Pegasus!" Edelweiss's arm shot straight up pointing northwest.

"What?"

"Pegasus! The winged horse in Greek Mythology! You know Zeus..." The girl was chattering on and on so excitedly that I had a very hard time trying to understand what she was saying. I rubbed my temple and looked in the direction she was pointing.

"What part of that looks like-" My words died in my throat. Of course, we were looking at a night sky. I found the star Sirrah and the rest of the Great Square of Pegasus and knew that Edelweiss was right. We were looking at the autumn constellations of the Northern Hemisphere. Pisces and Aquarius were to the south of Pegasus, I pointed them out to the child.

"I know! They're all so pretty!" Edelweiss exclaimed gleefully. She continued to look at the sky but I saw her brow begin to knit again. "I think something is missing though..."

"Missing?"

"I mean a constellation. I think one of them's missing..."

I squinted at the sky again, "Pegasus, Aquarius, Pisces...there's Cygnus right above, and Lacerta beside it. Little over there but higher is Perseus and Casseopia..." That seemed to be the extent of the constellations that fit in the room. Was there one missing?

"There's one missing, I know there is!" Edelweiss raised a hand and started naming big stars. If it weren't for my father who loved stargazing, I wouldn't know half of the names she blurted out.

"Mirfak...Algol...something's not here..." She suddenly clapped her hands to her mouth. "Oh! I know, I know it!"

"Yes? What is it? Did you figure out which one was missing?" I eagerly scooted closer to the girl.

Edelweiss began to clap her hands together gently, feverishly trying to remember something. She pointed right between Perseus and Lacerta. "There's something there, something right under Casseopeia!"

I cocked my head sideways. I felt like I should know this one; my father often like to show Mary and I the night sky on clear nights, his telescope was a Celestron AstroMaster 130EQ that mom had given him on their 18th anniversary. Fall and Winter were his favourite seasons for stargazing...

"M31."

I stared over at the girl. "The 31st object on Messier's list of diffuse sky objects?"

"Yes...but what is the name of it?!" Edelweiss was becoming agitated, her pretty little face was scrunching up, ready to cry.

I ran a hand through my hair, "31st...31st..." my fingers caught a knot in my hair, "31st is..." Edelweiss was gripping her knees now, her knuckles white. It was at the tip of my tongue, after all, I named my first beta fish after this constellation. "Andromeda!"

"Yes! Andromeda!" Edelweiss jumped up triumphantly. "Great job Ib!"

"Thank you! I couldn't have been able to identify it without you!" We both glanced up at the place where Andromeda should have been and suddenly, it was there, the stars Mirach and Alpheratz shining brightest of the stars in the constellation. Almost immediately, a light shone from behind me. I whirled around and saw that a black door that wasn't there before had opened. The next room looked brighter than this one, the walls seemed to be blue. I stood up hurriedly.

"Come on Edelweiss, looks like we found ourselves an exit."

Edelweiss grabbed my hand and stood up. "Are we almost out?"

"I don't know, but at least we'll be out of the dark right?"

"Yeah!" We proceeded hand in hand to the doorway and walked into the next challenge.


	4. Chapter 3-Domain of the Forgotten Ones

**AUTHOR'S NOTES**

Hello readers! We're starting to get into the heat of the story; as most of the readers are expecting, Garry does appear in this chapter! I had a hard time naming this chapter, it could have been just "Garry" but this chapter has much more to do with just Garry. This chapter tells about one of the best kept secrets of the Gallery: "The Forgotten Portrait" is a portrait that appears differently to certain people. Most see it as a completely gray painting and think that perhaps "portrait" wasn't the best title, but maybe Ib and Garry weren't the first visitors to Guertena's world...?

Also, I got a few PMs asking about the cover of Fantasia. I had initially drawn a cover for it, but because of the dimensions the cover needed to be, the picture was too big to fit into the small space provided. The picture now occupying that space is my cosplay of Ib that I whipped up in a day and wore to MagFest 2013. For more cosplay shots please refer to my deviantart: akabarayashiki

Because of university starting up again, I will be releasing chapter MUCH MUCH slower, but please bear with me~!Now, onto the story, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

_**CHAPTER III - Domain of the Forgotten Ones and Progression**_

The door creaked shut behind us as we stared around our new surroundings. The walls of the new room were beautiful, washed over with a light blue but it seemed like a rainbow had entered the room and decided to stay. Light greens, dark greens, blues, deep reds, oranges, yellows, and varying shades of violet seemed to be spray painted onto the walls. Golden frames were hanging in the room, about 9 or so, each the same size, but in each a different painting was behind the glass.

"This place is beautiful..." I inhaled and exhaled deeply, this room was just as lovely as the last room, it almost didn't seem real...

"Wow..." Edelweiss's eyes grew large, she let go of my hand and ran over to a portrait. "She's so pretty..."

Walking to her side, I looked at the painting of the lady before me. She was raven haired, with fair skin wearing a completely black gown complete with a black veil. She looked like a mourning bride, but I couldn't be sure. It saddened me that her eyes weren't open though, lovely as the painting is, but if her eyes were open, the painting would be that much more beautiful. My eyes slid down to where the plaque was.

"The Forgotten Portrait...?" Wait, but that can't be right, I thought to myself. "The Forgotten Portrait" in the gallery was of a man wearing blue, not a woman at all. I ran a hand through my hair. Edelweiss meanwhile had skipped on to the next painting and was swooning over the young boy in the painting. He looked maybe 17, but even so young, he wore an army uniform in a deep shade of forest green. His eyes too were shut as if he were sleeping. "He looks so...peaceful..." Edelweiss's pale finger traced his jaw, "It's like he's asleep..."

I had to bite my lip again. Something about this collection of sleeping portraits seemed to have struck a chord deep in my mind. "Yes...he's asleep...just asleep Edelweiss..." My fingers clenched my blood red rose and I stared at the floor; I could not bear to look at the other portraits, their tranquil faces suddenly were more than I could bear. I began to walk towards the other end of the gallery where there was a new door. I reached it and sat down directly beside it, careful not to touch the wall in case anything burst from it. Carefuly, I tucked my rose into the side pocket of my skirt. It should be safe there, at least for now.

The small girl sporting my red blazer was now crossing to the opposite side of the room admiring the sleeping portraits over there. Warily, I looked at them from a distance.

The first thing that caught my eye was that the portrait furthest from Edelweiss and closest to me was completely blank. There was no figure against the backdrop, only a wash of pale brown on the canvas. Cocking my head to the side, I squinted to read the label beneath the portrait. "The Forgotten Portrait". Of course, whoever painted these must be completely crazy... I rubbed my eyes and focused instead down on the ground.

This gallery was by far one of the strangest places I've ever been. Unless of course I'd just bumped my head during the field trip. Yes, that must be it, I'm probably lying in an infirmary now, dreaming up this entire place. I shook my head, unable to help but smile; I must be artistically frustrated or something to make up an entire coherent world...

"Ib?" I looked up, snapping out of my own pity party and saw that Edelweiss was looking at me curiously.

"Oh, yes?"

"You were just spacing out, is everything okay?"

I smiled as brightly as I could, "Yes everything is fine!" I stood and dusted my skirt off, " I don't see anything in this room, should we go on?"

"Okay!" Edelweiss took my hand and squeezed it. I smiled again, I felt like I had a little sister. Mary had always been like this when we were young, always grabbing my hand when she was scared, now that she was older, less things fazed her and I find myself missing her clingy younger self. I took the glass handle of the new door, it was a completely white door with not a blemish upon it. The door opened with little effort and we stepped into a small room. The room was deep green all over, like the canopy of a dark forest. There was a single painting in the back of the room that had a plaque beneath it. As we approached it, Edelweiss suddenly put a hand to her mouth.

"That's...!"

"What? What's wrong?"

"That's the portrait I was looking at in the gallery before I felt the earthquake!"

I looked to the portrait and saw that it was portrait of a woman wearing a blue dress. Her hair was brown and wavy, a long arm leaned against the bottom edge of the frame. Her eyes seemed to be staring into the distance behind us.

"The Lady in Blue." The moment the last syllable left Edelweiss's lips, I watched incredulously as the lady's eyes found us. Her gaze was bloodthisty, both irises of her eye were pitch black. Instinctively, my foot took a step backward.

_CRASH!_ The glass exploded from the portrait and two long elegant arms came from within the painting. The white hands were armed with long clawlike nails.

"Ahhh!" Edelweiss's scream jolted me out of shock; I turned the girl around and both of us raced for the door. My fingers reached the door handle first and I twisted.

It was locked. Frantic now, I jerked harder, "No, this isn't happening!" Edelweiss screamed again and I turned for a split second. The painting had fallen off the wall onto the hard floor and was clawing its way toward us! The woman opened her mouth and let out an unearthly screech, like the wind blowing through a barren forest.

The girl beside me began to pound on the door that we came from."HELP! SOMEONE HELP!" I could feel a whimper building up in my chest and I continued to fruitlessly tug at the door handle. The monster was getting closer by the moment, I felt time slow down as her hands reached within a foot of me. Edelweiss jumped in fronf of me.

"No! You won't hurt Ib!" The lady is blue grabbed Edelweiss's ankles, her nails sank into the girl's tender flesh. A few white petals fell from the rose in Edelweiss's hair as she cried out in pain.

I knew for certain now that this was no dream. "Edelweiss!"

Suddenly, the handle beneath my fingers turned on its own accord. I fell onto the ground and let out a yelp as the door opened. A tall man wearing a fraying long blue coat strode in. Though tall, he did not look intimidating; with a single arm, he grabbed Edelweiss by the waist and wrenched her from the portrait's grip. In another move, he had pushed the little girl through the white door and offered me his hand.

"Get up!" I took his hand and scrambled to my feet. From here, the man no longer seemed tall, in fact he was not even a fully grown man, but a teenager like I was. His fingers clamped onto my wrist as he turned heel and heading back through the door. No sooner had we crossed the threshold, his free hand closed the white door. Panting, he leaned heavily against it, as if blockading it. I found myself breathing hard too, bringing my right hand to my heart, I tried to calm my breathing down. I stole a glance at the boy standing beside me.

His wavy hair was deep shade of violet, several deep blue streaks could be seen on the uppermost layer. What an interesting dye job. His eyes were closed but he too clutched his chest, willing his heart to slow down. I blinked rapidly at my savior, his profile was soft, his jawline, dull not like a guy's at all. He abruptly turned and looked me straight in the eye.

"Are you alright?" His long purple bangs obstructed my view of his left eye, but his right eye was a shade of royal blue, like an sapphire.

I willed my lips to move. "Y-yes...I'm fine..."

The boy smiled a relieved smile, but it immediately disappeared as a clawing sound came from behind the closed door. He gave the door a final shove with his shoulder before backing away, dragging me with him. "There, she won't come after you again." He smiled at me again before realising that he was still grasping my wrist. "Oh! I'm sorry!" he dropped my hand hurriedy and backed away.

"I-it's fine, really..." I massaged my wrist and looked around. Edelweiss was sitting on the ground, my blazer wrapped protectively around her, looking very lost. When our eyes met, she made a rapid frightened glance in Garry's direction. "Oh! Uhh...thank you for saving us..." I turned hastily back to our savior, "I'm uh, Ib, Kusakabe Ib. This is Edelweiss, uh..."

"Weiß." the girl piped up, "I'm German."

"Oh I see, it was no problem at all...Edelweiss and Ib, what lovely names." The boy's eyes lingered on me for a moment before clearing his throat, "My name is Otonashi Garry."

"Are you also from the gallery?" Edelweiss was watching him mystified.

"Ah, yes, I was...um, am." Garry cleared his throat, "I got lost in here and I'm trying to find a way out."

"Us too..." Edelweiss said sadly.

"Well, I would feel terribly for leaving two young ladies to fend for themselves, may I accompany you?"

"We would like that very much Mr. Garry!"

"Garry..." I murmured. The name was a common one, yet something about that name made me feel infinitely sad.

"Yes?"

I looked up, "Oh sorry! It's nothing..." I flushed as Garry continued to look at me, tilting his head, looking confused.

Just then, Edelweiss let out a cry of pain.

"Edelweiss?!" I rushed to her side. The girl's ankle was bleeding profusely, the lady in blue had done more damage than I thought. The rose woven in the girl's hair only had three petals left.

"We need to stop the bleeding." Garry pulled a tissue from his pocket. As he did so I saw it, a blue rose, so blue that I wasn't sure it was real, fall to the ground. While he began to staunch the flow of blood from her ankle, I picked up the rose on the ground. I've seen a rose as blue as this before...I know I have... Garry saw me staring, "Oh, thank you I-, I mean, Miss Kusakabe, just tuck that back into my pocket would you?"

"S-sure..." Strange, he just tried to call my by my first name... Approaching Garry's left, I slipped the rose into his pocket.

"It's not working..." Garry pulled another tissue from his pocket, "We'll have to find a vase."

"What?" Great, our new companion has lost his marbles. "What is a vase going to do?

"The key to getting out of this hellhole is to not lose all the petals on your rose." Garry lifted Edelweiss from the ground, "Surely you've noticed, every time you get injured in here, you lose petals." I nodded mutely. "Well it goes the other way too."

"Other way?"

"If you pluck a petal off your rose, damage is inflicted on your body."

"You're shitting me." Edelweiss looked up at me in wonderment. I had cursed for the first time in front of the child. I was brought up by my parents not to curse, particularly in front of children. But occasionally there arises certain occasions where cursing was seen as a necessity.

Garry blinked at me, "My...you've...um, let's get going!" He nodded his head at the blank portrait titled "Forgotten Painting", "I found an entry way behind that painting, could you get the door Miss Kusakabe?" Edelweiss gave out another pitiful cry. I pushed my thoughts to the back of my mind and ran to the frame. Carefully, I pried at it from the left. It didn't budge.

"Other side." Garry grunted, his voice straining. Edelweiss must be heavier than she looked. I moved to the other end of the portrait and tugged at it. It swung open like a door on hinges.

He carried Edelweiss into the passage while I brought up the rear. I closed the portrait behind me and stared into the darkness.

"Hold up, Ib- I mean Miss-"

"It's fine, you can just call me Ib."

"Thank you, Ib, could you reach into my pocket again? I have a lighter somewhere."

"Okay." I touched Garry's back feeling my way to his jacket pocket. I found it, inside I felt coins and the rose. "Nothing, it's not here."

"Try the other pocket."

Awkwardly, I felt for his back once more. Going to the right this time, I found the second pocket. Inside was some tissues, more coins, and something thin. I pulled it out. Striking my finger on the starter, a flame burst forth in the dark. "Ahh, thank you Ib." Edelweiss whose face was pale white now, smiled weakly at me. Garry moved aside letting me step ahead of him. Carrying the flame, we descended further into the unknown. The walls in the passage were built from stone, it was chilly in here and deathly still. I started getting paranoid, staying as far from the walls as possible, those arms never ever gave warning when they came out of the walls. After a few minutes of agonising restlessness, we approached the outlines of a door.

"I think we're out..." I grasped for a handle and found it. The door came open into the next gallery. The entirety of the walls were a rusty red, the floor was stone just like in the passageway only someone had went ahead and painted it blood red. I felt dizzy in here, like I was going to be sick. I leaned against the first piece of furniture I saw, a desk. Garry followed me, gently lowering Edelweiss to the ground.

"Here's a vase." Garry murmured, carefully pulling the rose from Edelweiss's hair. I glanced at the desk for the first time and noticed that indeed there was a vase; it was made of fine glass and filled to the brim with clear water. Gingerly, Garry placed the rose into the glass.

"What will that do?"

"Watch it, you're about to see something amazing." Garry smiled at me and turned his attention back to the flower. Unconvinced, I focused my attention at the white rose. It was starting to do something very strange, white petals were starting to grow out at an alarming speed. My eyes widened in shock.

"What in the world..." This was identical to my dream this morning! I placed a rose into a vase and watched as it regained health...was that a premonition? I continued to stare at the flower as the two remaining petals that were browning began to shed the colour of decay and regain a healthy appearance.

"The vases are our saving grace." Garry plucked the flower from the vase and handed it back to Edelweiss. I glanced from the flower to Edelweiss's ankle and saw that there was not a scratch on her.

Before I could say anything, Garry's hand was before me, his fingers curling up.

"What?"

"Give me your rose. You're missing petals as well aren't you?" I nodded and reached into my pocket, producing the lovely blood red rose. I put the flower in his palm. He smiled at me then placed the rose into the vase. "There, now you won't feel as tired."

"I am not tired...this place is just...I don't know, the colour sickens me." I defensively replied.

"It's certainly not a calming colour." Garry muttered more to himself, then louder he said, "If you want Ib, you can close your eyes for a moment." Edelweiss looked up from where she sat and smiled at me.

"I'm alright..." I knelt down beside the girl. She seemed to be much better, but I couldn't be sure. "How are you feeling Edelweiss?"

"I feel great!"

"Glad to hear it." I felt strength come into my body, tingling sensations filled my fingertips. Funny, maybe I was a bit tired...

Garry prodded my head with the stem of my rose. I looked up, pocketed my rose and thanked him. "Should we continued then ladies?"

"Yes please, I would like to get out of here quickly!" Edeweiss finished weaving her rose back into her hair.

"Don't be too hasty Edelweiss, you need your energy." Garry chided. He turned to me and smiled, "Children are always so impatient aren't they?"

"Yes." I laughed. "Well, Edelweiss is a strong little girl, if she says she'll be fine, I think we should go ahead and continue."

"Alright then, let's be off." Garry stood up and brushed the back of his coat off. "Looks like this area is built like a maze rather than the former room. We've got no choice but to follow it." Edelweiss jumped up and stood waiting for me. Garry offered his hand to me again.

"You're a fine gentleman Garry."

I saw a pale blush appear in his face as he hurriedly looked elsewhere. "Ah, well, my father taught me well then." I smiled, rising to my feet with his help. Edelweiss had zipped up my windbreaker.

"Are you cold?"

"Yes...it seems to be colder in here." Edelweiss touched the wall with a small finger. "The walls are all made of stone too."

"Crude architecture by the looks of it..." Garry ran a hand through his wavy hair. "No matter, we'll get warmer if we keep walking." Edelweiss took my hand, the three of us walked together down the hall. There were paintings hanging everywhere. I recognised from the gallery the painting of coffee and cake, yet another painting was a black snake with a blue stone in its eye, reminiscent of the white snake from the gallery. There were others I didn't recognise though, a painting of a juggler and a painting with an piece of fruit and a knife. After we passed the fruit painting I head a loud clatter behind me.

"What was that?" The violet haired boy turned around in alarm. Edelweiss hid behind him while I took a defensive step back. In front of the fruit painting was a blade. A fruit knife, only about 8 inches in length had fallen out of the painting! Apprehensively, I knelt down and picked it up carefully by the hilt.

"Is that safe?" The girl was tugging nervously at her dress hem.

I smiled at the little girl, "It's just a fruit knife. We should hold on to it in case it comes in handy later."

Garry nodded slowly. "You're right, just in case, let's keep that around."

I pocketed the knife in my other small skirt pocket. It was uncomfortable, but because of the knife's bluntness, I wasn't too bothered. We continued on, the hallway took a sharp turn to the east, then promptly branched into two halls.

"Uh oh..." Edelweiss whispered as she clutched at my skirt.

"Hm...Let's just choose one hall and come back if we hit a dead end." Garry suggested.

"Okay sounds good." I looked to the right, "This way first then?" Edelweiss and Garry both nodded in agreement. We turned to the right. Not far down that hall we found a picture that covered the entire wall. There was nothing around it, no other hall to go down. It looked like a dead end.

"Should we go back?"

"Not yet Ib, let's see if we can open this painting like we did in the rainbow room."

"Good plan." Garry and I immediately moved to the frame and tried to pry it off.

"_HEY. WHAT ARE YOU DOING?_"

"Augh!" Garry had fallen backwards onto the ground.

I jumped about a foot in the air, promptly releasing the frame."W-who was that?!" Still in shock, Garry shakily pointed at the frame I stood beside. The painting that had once been a black canvas now held a glowing face. It was not an articulated face to say the least, it was drawn as if with blue markers, delineating a pair of circle eyes, and a mouth with a red tongue sticking out.

"_DON'T TRY TO PRY ME OPEN. I WON'T LET YOU THROUGH_."

"W-why not?" Edeweiss asked quietly. I went to her side at once, wrapping my arms around her.

"_BECAUSE I'M HUNGRY_."

Garry stared at the painting suspiciously. "You're hungry?

"_YES SIR. OH...BUT YOUR ROSES DO LOOK SCRUMPTOUS. HOW ABOUT IT, I'LL LET YOU THROUGH IF YOU GIVE ME ONE TO EAT_." The painting eyed Edelweiss's white flower. She flinched. I pulled my rose from my pocket.

"No! Ib, don't do it!" Garry was on his feet now; he grasped me by my shoulders, "I told you, your rose is your life! Never forfeit your rose!"

Dazed, I blinked at him. "I wasn't going to give it to him..."

Garry relaxed and turned around to the face. "We'll search for something else for you to eat."

"_VERY WELL THEN_." Without another look at the painting, Garry took both Edelweiss and I by the wrist and lead us back the way we came. Once we were out of earshot, Edelweiss looked up at Garry.

"W-why did you get so angry at Ib, Mr. Garry?"

Garry's brow which had been furrowed, softened considerably. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to come off that way." The boy met my eyes, "I didn't want you to throw your life away."

I swallowed a gulp and nodded, "I know..." Garry's grip on my wrist slackened. We had arrived at our fork in the road again. To our left was the way we came and ahead was the left path from earlier. We continued walking straight. This hallway seemed much longer than the right hall, along the way I saw only one painting, a painting of a starry sky.

"There!" Edelweiss suddenly said. I turned my attention away from the starry sky. Straight ahead was a door; it was red just like the walls, I almost missed it altogether if it weren't for the gold door handle. Garry released my wrist completely now and walked ahead of us to open the door. We walked in and immediately stopped, our mouths gaping.

"Is this...?" To my left was a black wall, to my right was another one. Further down ahead were more walls with gaps between them just like...

"A maze..." Edelweiss groaned.

Garry shook his head, frustration written plainly on his face. "This is not good..." I couldn't help but silently agree.

"What's that?" The child pointed at something to our right. Garry turned to stare at the wall. Edging my way out from behind him, I saw that they were both looking at what looked like a window with a red curtain shade on it. As a collective, we approached the window cautiously. There was a shade tassel connected to the curtain. Without informing the others, I reached out and tugged it.

"Ah!" Garry stumbled backwards a few steps when the curtain snapped upward. Beneath it was a framed white painting with a black stick figure. Instantaneously, words began to appear in red below the painting. The violet haired boy took the liberty of reading it aloud, "_Hide and seek! Find me and I'll give you a prize_."

"What kind of-whoa!" This time it was me that gasped and pointed at the painting. The stick figure in the white painting had was nothing but white canvas in the frame. Edelweiss and Garry gasped.

After a moment's pause, Garry mumbled, "...I hate this place." I let out a nervous laugh and pat him on the shoulder.

"So...I guess we need to find the stick person?"

"Yeah..." Edelweiss suddenly took off ahead of us, her long platinum blonde hair flying behind her. She ran until the next block of wall where she stopped and stared.

Calling out I asked, "What is it?"

"There's another painting!" Garry and I exchanged a glance before racing to the little girl's side. Once before the new painting, we stared at it.

"Here goes nothing." Garry gave the shade tassel a deft tug. The curtain rolled up revealing a bare woman's backside. I didn't have a moment to register shock as my hands had instantly flown to cover Edeweiss's face. The painting let out a scream, like a woman caught in the shower. Out of nowhere, a pale hand appeared and smacked Garry across the face!

"Oww!" Garry staggered backwards, the curtain before us rolled back down on its own accord. I saw the boy reach into his pocket and pull out his blue rose. A petal fell from it, drifting slowly down to the ground.

"That was pretty un-cool." I eyed Garry as I spoke, giggling. Edelweiss's small hands moved to displace mine.

"W-what was that Ib?" She turned to face me wonderingly.

"Er...nothing..." I smiled innocently. The child did not question me but looked from Garry's rose down to the petal on the ground.

The violet haired boy grimaced as he rubbed his face. "Looks like this will be an annoying game. We have to flip up curtains until we find the stick figure, who knows how many crazy paintings are in here."

"Should we split up?"

"Good plan Edelweiss. You go with Ib." Edelweiss nodded and took my hand as Garry continued with the plan. "We'll go different ways and call out to each other if we find the stick figure okay?"

"Okay!" Edelweiss pointed to the left, "Ib! Let's go this way!"

"Alright." Letting the child drag me in her desired direction, I turned to look at Garry. "Be careful."

He looked startled for a moment, as if no one had said that to him before then smiled, "I sure will Ib." When we rounded the corner, he was no longer in sight. Down a straight road we walked, both Edelweiss and I looked for curtains but found none. It wasn't till we'd turned another corner and looked to our left did we see another red curtain. Approaching it, Edelweiss turned to me.

"I'll go this time."

"What?"

"Something might pop out and take our petals right?" Edelweiss looked me full in the eye. "I'll go first this time and then you can do the next one."

"But, you've only got five petals, I should-"

"No! I don't want to be useless! I-I've...always been protected...I just...want to protect Ib." The girl threw herself at me and hugged on tightly. I was stunned, but reciprocated. After a moment she let go and looked me in the eye. There was a ferocity unbecoming for a child so young, it was unsettling yet for one reason or another, I could see I wasn't going to win this argument.

I'd been like that once. As the younger sister, I'd always been sheltered and guarded my whole life. Mary was always given more privileges while I quietly sat by and watched. She was allowed to go ice skating when she turned 11, I was sent to the library. When she fell and broke her ankle when she was 13, mother forbade me from learning ice skating. I'd always resented that decision but at that age, I could not overturn my matriarch's judgement calls.

"Alright, I understand. You can do it first, Edelweiss." I pat her atop her head. Her soft hair was like fur rather than strands, she was like a small animal. I couldn't help but smile at her; she returned the smile and took a deep breath before pulling the the tassel.

The curtain rose to show a large gaping mouth. Quickly, I pulled Edelweiss backwards away from the painting, not a second too late either, a long tongue had emerged from the painting, swiping out and hitting the spot where Edelweiss's neck was a moment ago. The curtain rolled down as soon as the tongue withdrew. Both of my hands were on the girl's shoulders, I felt when she tensed up the moment she saw the mouth.

"T-that was close..."

"Yes it was." I squeezed her shoulders gently. "Let's move on." We turned to our right and continued to the next painting not too far away. This time I made sure Edelweiss was standing behind me by about a meter. I marvelled at myself; I'd always been the younger sister but now here I was, a protector of the small. I suppose people change when exposed to situations like this... Bravely, I gave the tassel a firm curtain rolled up to reveal a lovely moon painting.

Instantly, all the lighting in the room went dim, I gasped and seized Edelweiss's arm. The curtain dropped back down over the moon but the lights did not come back.

"Ib! Edelweiss!" Garry's voice was coming from somewhere north of us.

"Garry! We're fine! We pulled a curtain open and the lights dimmed!" I had to throw my voice for fear that he couldn't hear me.

"Alright, I'm coming to you!" The sounds of heavy footfalls resounded around in the maze.

"No we're fine! Just, keep looking for the stick man!" Edelweiss called back. Garry's footsteps slowed in the distance. "We'll all get back together when one of us finds him!"

"Okay!"

With that, we turned back to our search. My eyes were beginning to adjust to the darkness now, I could see a good few meters before us. Just another wall away was yet another curtain; Edelweiss dashed up to it and stopped.

"Go ahead." I called to her, the girl hesitated. "Should I do it?"

"No. I'm okay." She squared her small shoulders and tugged on the tassel. The curtain rolled up revealing a large knife. This time I wasn't quick enough; the knife came straight out of the painting and slashed at the girl. Edelweiss must have anticipated something violent; she ducked down and the knife sliced an inch off of her hair. When she stood up, the knife had already been hidden by the curtain. I glanced at her rose and saw that no petals had fallen. Sighing inwardly, I realised that we'd been very lucky.

"Ib!" Garry's voice was somewhere closer now. "Edelweiss!"

"Here! We're here!"

A minute or so passed until the he found us. He had his ligher out to show him the way; he waved to us triumphantly with something in his hand. "I found him!"

"Oh goodie!" Edelweiss skipped over the him, I joined a moment later. "What did you get?" "This." Garry pocketed his lighter and crouched down to open his hand for the child to see. "I'm not sure what we can do with this besides eat it, but I suppose it's something." A green pear was sitting in his palm, I could tell immediately even in the dark from its texture that it was a real fruit. I gave it a tentative prod.

"This is perfect."

Garry looked at me confused, "Perfect for what?"

"Perfect to give to the hungry painting!" Edelweiss laughed, "Ingenious Ib!"

The boy grinned and gave me a pat on the back, "Alright then, let's go!" He pulled out his lighter again and walked before us. Slowly, we felt our way out of the maze.

On the way, I looked towards Garry, he seemed to be paler than before. Maybe it was the fire light, but I could not keep my question to myself. "Hey, did you lose any petals?" Garry's eye darted towards me.

"Yeah...just a few..."

"You look so pale."

Garry smiled wanely, "Yeah, I'm just a bit...sleepy. Hopefully we'll come across a vase soon." I bit my lip. I hope we find one soon too, I thought. After another turn or two, we found the exit. Leaving the maze behind us, we took a straight path to the hungry painting.

When we arrived at the painting it seemed to be sleeping. Garry cleared his throat loudly.

"_OH. WELCOME BACK_."

"We've brought you some food."

"_WONDERFUL_." Garry produced the fruit. "_AH... HOW MOUTHWATERING. PITY, MY MOUTH ISN'T BIG ENOUGH_."

"What? You can't chew?" The boy's voice was irritated, if slightly impatient. I shifted uneasily from my left foot to my right foot. "That's preposterous, you're a magical painting aren't you?"

"_YES BUT MY CREATOR DID NOT GIFT ME WITH A SET OF TEETH_." The blue face almost sounded woeful. Edelweiss suddenly tugged at my skirt.

"Edelweiss?"

"Ib, you picked up a knife earlier didn't you?"

It took me a moment to realise what she said, "O-oh yeah!" Yeah I did! Good thinking!"Garry high fived the child as I reached into my pocket and pulled out the fruit knife. "Garry, the pear!" He handed the fruit to me and I sliced it carefully into four pieces. Handing them back to him, he fed the hungry painting piece by piece.

After a few moments, the fruit was gone; the painting was making all sorts of satisfied noises like a person smacking his lips together. "_THAT WAS FANTASTIC. I THANK YOU VERY MUCH_."

"Don't mention it." Garry replied, "Now, if you would honour your end of the agreement, that would be highly appreciated."

"_OF COURSE. GO ON THROUGH_." The face disappeared as the large frame swung open.

"Shall we?" Garry motioned for us to enter first.

"Let's go!" Edelweiss tugged at my arm excitedly, I couldn't help but smile as my companions and I went through the painting.


	5. Chapter 4-Sundering

**Author's Notes**

Hello readers! Sorry for the SUPER SLOW UPDATES! University is quite a handful this semester, I will be trying my best to write and release new chapters when I can. I assume if you've read all the way through chapter 3 and are reading this that my fanfiction's premises intrigues you. Wait no longer, here is chapter 4!

In this chapter expect to hear more abour Ib's relationship with her "sister" Mary. Edelweiss, a crucial character, will disappear for a little while, but fear not, she will resurface soon. I wrote this fanfic with the idea in mind to expand on the world Kouri has created, flesh out Weiss Guertena's character and how his mind works and of course, develop the relationship between Ib and Garry. I do hope reader's aren't completely reading for IbXGarry, because I honestly prefer writing stories where the plot drives the story and not character drives the story. There will be tender moments between the main pairing, but expect that the plot will be the central focus.

Thanks so much for reading this far guys, I really hope you enjoy this chapter! Remember, if you have a moment, leave me a comment, feedback, or criticism! Enjoy!

_**CHAPTER IV - Sundering**_

__The moment the door closed behind us, I felt instantly better. Unlike the previous halls which were a shade of grotesque red, my eyes were relieved to find that this gallery was a pale yellow. Surveying the new gallery, the first thing my eyes saw was a desk and vase. I turned to Garry and he nodded hurrying over to it. I saw him pull out the blue rose and was shocked to see that the rose had only 4 petals upon it. He must have opened every painting he ran into...

Once the rose entered the water, the healing process began. Blue petals began to sprout from the base of the blossom; Garry's pallid face also began to flush with colour. Edelweiss and I approached the table; both of us counting our petals. Neither of us needed the water so we sat down, leaning against the desk legs. From here I noticed that the room branched into two forks not unlike the red gallery. A solitary painting hung from the wall where the hallways split.

"This room is far more comfortable." Edelweiss chimed, I couldn't help but agree with her. The girl sitting beside me seemed happy; she began to whistle a soft sweet tune. It sounded like "jingle bells" but in a minor key. Garry joined us on the floor.

"Feeling better?"

"Much, thank you." Edeweiss smiled in thanks.

The boy a strand out hair out of his right eye, "Shall we stay here for awhile then?"

Edelweiss regretfully shook her head, "Oh no, we shouldn't in case one of those hungry ladies comes after us again." She jumped up, her pale dress fluttered beneath my red windbreaker.

"She's right, we should get going." I stood up and dusted off my skirt, offering Garry a hand, he took it and stood up. The three of us headed towards the end of the gallery. At the fork, we stopped and stared at the solitary painting in the gallery.

"_Judgement_..." Garry's voice was uneasy as he murmured the word. "That sounds...threatening."

"The painting has that look about it..." It was a landscape of a barren ground, dark clouds obscured the sky. I ran a finger over the glass covering where a large thunderbolt struck and split the earth. "Somehow, this reminds me of the greek gods..."

"Ohh, you mean like...Zeus?" Edelweiss wrapped her arms around herself. "The gods were pretty harsh about punishments..."

"That's true." Garry scratched his head, "I wonder this is a key to leaving this gallery."

"I have no- Ah!" A bolf of light had suddenly hit the floor beneath our feet! The floor split open and I felt my legs give way. Garry had stumbled to the right and Edelweiss to the left; I watched helplessly as I began to fall. I was in too much shock to scream.

"Ib!" Garry's arm lashed out and caughted my right wrist. With wide eyes, I stared up at him fearfully. "Hold on! I'll bring you up!" I looked down into an endless gulf. Pieces of floor were falling further and further down until I could no longer see them. This was too real... Once more I was reminded that I wasn't in a dream; I may die here. A surging fear ran up my back as I gave a weak cry of fear.

"Ib! No, Ib!" I turned to see Edelweiss across the gulf, alone and scared. She was sitting on the edge of the gulf sobbing uncontrollably. Oh god, I have to get up, I can't worry her...

"I've got you! Don't look down!" I turned back to look at Garry and saw that he was straining. Drops of sweat were falling from his temple, his teeth gnashed together and his left arm grasping the edge of the ground was white to the knuckles. He desperately lifted me up inch by inch. In what felt like an eternity, the edge of the ground came close enough for my free hand to grab onto. I put my strength into my arm and pushed myself up. Garry grabbed me by the waist the moment I was high enough and pulled me back onto the ground level. I fell into his arms and stayed there panting and shaking.

"Are you alright?!" Garry asked frantically, holding me tightly. I saw nothing but his forest green shirt; a musty pine cologne filled my nose. I tried to slow down my breathing and found that it was quite impossible. Suddenly, I felt Garry's fingers gently running through my hair. "It's alright, you're safe now...I've got you." I glanced up and met his deep blue eyes. "I've got you Ib..." His face was so tender right now. And yet...it was like I've seen him look like this before... Right before I passed out...

But...I've never fainted before. My brow scrunched together. I know I've seen this look on his face before...

"Ib!" Edelweiss's voice jerked me from my thoughts. I turned around and marvelled ih horror at what I saw. The void between us was huge, about the size of a table tennis table. There was no way to get to the other side of the hole.

"Edelweiss..."

"Are you okay, Ib?"

"I'm okay..." I felt Garry's arms gave me a gentle squeeze. "I'm really okay..."

"I'm glad..." Edelweiss wiped her face with my sleeve. "How am I going to get other there?"

I glanced around and saw no way to cross the void. The walls were the only things around, I could see no place where a foot could find a purchase to climb. It almost looked like someone had taken a scalpel to the sides of the wall and scraped them apart from the floors. "I don't know..."

Garry seemed at a loss for what to do as well, he kept looking from our side of the hole to the other as if measuring the distance he could jump. "It's not use..." he finally said, "There's just no way we can get over there or for Edelweiss to get over here..." My heart sank; I already knew that but hearing it made the entire situation seem just that much more helpless. Edelweiss was biting her lip from where she was; she stood up, I saw that her small fists were clenched. For some reason or another, she seemed more angry than lost like we were.

"I-I'll find a way to get around!"

"It's too dangerous for you!" Garry sounded desperate, "You should stay there, Ib and I will try to find a way around to you!"

"I can't just sit here and wait for help..." Edelweiss looked down at her hands. "I want to help you..." How I wished I could hold her hands now and assure her that everything was fine. I could only watch in agony as the small girl tore herself to pieces worrying about us. "I've always been a burden...just something to protect and be pretty. I want...I want to be of use to someone..." The child was weeping now, I'd never felt so helpless as I did now.

"L-listen...Edelweiss." Garry cleared his throat. "People get hurt in here...it's like a sick game. Someone is watching us suffer, this is just entertainment to him. That lightning bolt was probably his idea of a great way to spruce up the fun." His arms tightened around me again. "But for us prisoners, this game is real...there's..." He took a gulp, "There's no guarentee you can make it out of this place again."

There was a silence, so quiet I could hear my own frantic heartbeat. "I know." The girl smiled a sad smile and said, "I know."

"Edelweiss..." Tears were filling up my vision.

"No Ib, it's fine." She smiled, "I will find you guys again!" I could swear that I saw tears shining in her eyes as she suddenly turned heel and sprinted away from us and towards what I could only hope was another door.

"E-"

"Let her go..." Garry's voice murmured. I looked up at him, ready to argue. What was he thinking letting her go like that? "Let her go." His voice was firmer this time, his eye found mine and he held my gaze. "She'll be fine. We must believe in her."

I bit back my reply."Y-you're right...Edelweiss will be fine...she's a smart girl..."

Garry nodded and smiled. "That's right, we'll see her again soon." I smiled back nervously. Just then it became uncomfortably apparent to me that I was still in Garry's arms. I think he knew it too for just a moment later, he withdrew his arms from around me hurriedly as if embarassed, "Sorry! I didn't mean to uhm, m-make this uncomfortable..." A deep rose was in his face now as he quickly stood up and offered me a hand.

"I-it wasn't uncomfortable at all." I was a bit flustered but I took his hand and got to my feet, "Thank you for saving my life..."

Garry's face was now a the colour of a scarlet balloon, "I-it was nothing, n-no problem at all!" He gave a nervous laugh and stuffed his hands into his pockets, "S-so why don't we head on into the next room? We'll hopefully meet Edelweiss round circle."

"Sounds promising..." We began on our way towards the next door. I noticed that Garry seemed to have something on his mind; he had kept his hands in his pockets, his eyes were hard. "Is there something wrong Garry?"

"Er, no...no nothing's wrong Ib." He slowed down his pace to match mine. "It's nothing important..."

"What is it?"

"Nothing...it's just...I wonder, do you maybe have a sister?"

What an odd question to ask, I wasn't sure if he was prying or just curious but I gave him the benefit of the doubt,"Uh, yes, I do. I have an older sister."

"I see. I...just thought that the way you treat Edelweiss is somewhat sisterly..."

"Yeah...I suppose you're right..." I fidgetted with my fingers. "When we were younger, Mary was more like a younger sister to me in some ways. I guess we eventually grew up."

"Mary...that's your older sister?"

"Yeah, she's lovely... When I see Edelweiss...I see a bit of myself and a bit of Mary. She's someone I want to protect like when Mary and I were younger, but she's like me because I feel like I've been sheltered a lot from harsh experiences too..." I laughed, "Man, that sounds so contradictory. I protected Mary when we were younger and in turn, I was protected by my family..."

"No, it makes sense."

I looked at Garry unsure of whether he was simply trying to make me feel better or he genuinely understood. "Really?"

"Yes." Garry's face seemed sad. "Does Mary miss you when you're not around?"

"I should think so." I pulled a necklace from inside my sailor uniform and showed it to him. "She got me this when she went to Italy with our aunt." I showed his the small silver rose pendant. It was circular piece of slver with a raised silver rose in the center. "She said she missed me not being there so she got me a souvenir so I didn't feel left out."

"That's good." Garry glanced at the necklace and smiled wanely. For some reason, his eyes seem sad, but I couldn't figure out why. Before I could ask, we were at the door, Garry opened it with a twist, "Well, ladies first." I crossed the threshold.

Orange. The walls were all orange. I heard Garry shut the door behind us. Blinking, I tried to get over how obnoxiously bright this gallery was. I was sincerely tired at this point and the orange was by not means helpful.

"Why must the walls be orange...?"

"I was thinking the same thing." I squeezed Garry's shoulder, "Glad we're on the same wavelength." Garry smiled appreciatively and we both surveyed the room. Just ahead of us was a vase on a desk, neither of us needed it so we paid it no mind. There were some headless mannequins distributed randomly in the room. Each were dressed in a colourful dress of the same cut.

"Death of the Individual." Garry's voice whispered.

"Oh yeah...I remember seeing those before in the Guertena gallery when I was 9."

"Yeah, they're not exactly...nice."

I looked at him, somehow, I knew I wouldn't like his answer. "What do you mean?"

The boy scratched his head slowly, "Er...remember "Lady in Blue"?"

My face paled. "Edelweiss." Garry looked at me worriedly. "W-what if she runs into one...I-I don't know what I'd-"

"Don't worry Ib, it's like you said, she's a smart girl." He pat my head gently, then put his hands back into his pocket, "She'll be fine. I'm sure of it."

I mutely nodded. "Will they move if we get close to them?"

"I can only assume so..." My hands found Garry's arm and I latched onto him. His head turned to look down at me, surprise writtn on his face, "Are you scared Ib?"

"No...not scared as much as I would be startled..."

"I see." He scratched his head again and a pale pink was present in his face, I noticed he'd been doing that more and more often... "Don't you worry too much, I'll be right here."

"Thank you..." I whispered. Somehow, he calmed me down just by being here. In just a few hours, he'd proven himself quite a gentleman and also highly helpful. I was enjoying his company more and more.

Wait. I bit my lip. Was this attraction? I stole a glance up at the boy cautiously; we had started walking again, he was focusing on the gallery. Now that I was paying attention to him, he's actually, quite cute... His face was very sharp but all at once very gentle looking. His eyes were almond shaped and bright-

No. Stop. I turned away internally slapping myself, now was not the time to be falling in love! I'm currently trapped in a strange painting world and could possibly die, my priorities must be set straight! I chewed on my tongue nervously.

"...to the right."

"Hmm?" I'd been so lost in thought, Garry's words did not sink in at all.

"I said, that end of the hall only has a singe painting, let's go to the right."

"Oh. Oh! Yes, good idea..." I threw a glance at the painting at the end of the hall. It was just a painting of a rose like the one from the real gallery. I made for the right branch of the gallery, still holding onto Garry's arm.

He started to speak again, his voice concerned, "You seem kind of out of it."

"I'm fine." I smiled at him reassuredly. "Just a bit...overwhelmed."

"Understandable." Garry smiled. "If you want to sit down for a bit, let me know."

"Alright."

There was a painting on the wall coming up; we slowed to a stop before it. It depicted a large man in brown lying on a couch. His face wasn't articulated too much, but he looked asleep, his arm dangling off the edge of the couch.

"I wonder what this is about..." I let go of Garry's arm so he could read the plaque, "_Lost Time_."

"Strange title. I don't remember this portrait in Guertena's gallery."

"He did many many paintings in his lifetime." Garry mused, "Shall we move on?" I nodded in agreement. We walked about five metres down the hallway before a black arm stretched out from the wall.

"Augh!" Garry jumped backwards but almost immediately regained his composure. "Ugh...I hate those..."

"Ha, and you were going to protect me?"

"I was just...caught off guard!" he replied defensively.

"Hahaha...you freak easily don't you?"

He threw me a sheepish look, then whispered quietly something that sounded like, "Yeah...you would know..."

"Huh?"

"Nothing." he said quickly, "I just get spooked easily when I'm not expecting something."

"Truthfully, it's kind of endearing." I giggled. Stop. I had to hit my mental brake again; this was getting carried away... I was starting to really enjoy his company.

"Well so are you." Garry smiled at me as I looked at his surprised. He turned away quickly, "You're cute..."

"O-oh...t-thank you." My face felt hot, I put my right hand to my cheek. Yup, it was heating up. I had never been called cute by a boy in my entire life.

"Ah...don't mention it..." Garry said quietly. We walked in a silence for a minute. I was suddenly really self conscious; I'd never worn much makeup but right now I really wish I had. I'd gotten up early for the field trip so the time was there but I'd just run out the door. But he thought I was cute... I wish I'd worn makeup...

We stopped before a two identical doors just a turn down the hall from the arm. "Wonder which of these leads out..."

"One way to find out." I reached out and twisted the door knob of the door to the right. It didn't budge an inch. "Damn..." Suddenly, a string of words appeared on the wall beside me. I backed into Garry who put his hands protectively around my shoulders.

"X - Y / Z =?"

"A math problem?" I mused aloud. I'd never been fond of math but this problem wasn't too hard. "Maybe we're supposed to find the X, Y and Z?"

"Most likely. It doesn't look like we can get through this door until we solve it..." Garry turned my attention to the left door. "Let's go in there." He opened the door.

Inside was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen in my life. The room was a shade of orange lighter than outside; the area was about the size of two small closets. Inside was a minature flower garden made entirely of precious stones and metals. There was a cluster of irises made of amethysts, each petal was a gemstone, cut and glued on to a crystal stem; chrysanthemums in several shades of topaz each held countless petals of precious stones. Red poppies made with gigantic red rubies were also there with a bush of sapphire hydrangeas next to a bush of roses that were all gold with emeralds as petals and crystal stems. Garry and I stood in awe at the sight.

"This is beautiful..." he breathed.

"You're telling me..." I came close to the nearest flower and studied it. It was a chrysanthemum made of pink topaz, the cut of the gemstones was perfect, light was reflected from every angle the stones were viewed. Beside it was another chrysanthemum in yellow topaz, I stared in awe at the beauty.

Garry headed over to the rose bush. "These are all so intricate. I love roses, they're positively my favourite flower."

"They're mine as well!" I answered appreciately.

"Ah well, then we are birds of a feather." Garry smiled and leaned in to sniff a golden rose. "They even smell like roses!" I left the chrysanthemums to join him beside the roses. I took a whiff of the golden bloom and let out a little 'Oh!'. After that we both ran around the room smelling the beautiful stone flowers.

After about ten minutes of enjoying the wonders of the room. Garry and I stood back. "I wonder if we're suppose to be looking for something in here."

"I don't know..." I was still distracted by the glittering flowers. "I wish Edelweiss was here to see this though..." I was still terribly worried about the girl wandering about by herself.

"She'll be fine, I know it. But for now, we need to find the numbers to plug into that equation." Garry moved to the far wall, his attention attracted to something. "Hey...Ib. Come here." Confused, I went to him. There was a painting on the far wall, I'd completely missed it eariler since it was behind the rose bush. In comparison to the fantastic nature of the room, it seemed almost drab. Its frame was a bronze tone, the entire portrait size was about the size of a large tv. The background was a wash of light gray and the subjects of the painting were 3 watering cans.

"Strange..." Garry touched the painting. _PLUNK!_ something fell from the painting causing me to flinch. "Augh!" Garry jumped back again, right into the bush of golden roses. He cursed quietly, rubbing his backside as I reached down to pick up the item.

"It's...one of the watering cans." I touched the painting and suddenly, the other two watering cans jumped into existence landing heavily on the floor. "Whoa...what are these for?" I picked them up from the ground and handed one to Garry.

"These are real bronze." He ran his fingers over the surface of the ornate watering can. "I can't believe the craftsmanship..."

"They are amazing... what could they be for?"

Garry stopped admiring the can for a moment and looked around. His eyes fell on the rose bush. "Just maybe..." he knelt down beside the bush, his fraying blue jacket spread out on the floor around him. "Just maybe..."

"Just maybe what?" I joined him on the ground.

"Hm...aha." His fingers touched a golden rose bud. "I thought so." Seeing the confusion on my face he mused, "I bet we have to water these for them to grow." He counted out exactly 3 golden buds, the other roses on the bush were full grown. "3, exactly how many

cans we have."

Things were starting to become clearer, "Makes sense but, water them? Where would we get water?"

"Oh, I think you know." Garry looked at me, a mischevious look in his beautiful left eye. "Take a wild guess."

I tilted my head to the left, something I commonly did when I was trying to figure out a problem. Water...where in the gallery would we find water? Then, it hit me like a freight train. "Of course. Silly me. The vases for our roses."

"That's right." Garry laughed. "This is a piece of work. These puzzles or whatever you want to call them, are pure genius. Even if this world is morbid, I'd shake Guerten'a hand if I got a chance."

"He's dead though isn't he?" I wasn't quite sure, but I remember reading a blurb in our texbook in art history about him dying in his hometown.

"Ahh...I wonder." Garry rested his chin on his hand with his elbow on one of his knees. "I wonder if maybe its him watching us now trying to find our way through his fabricated world."

I bit my lip and laughed nervously, "So...we'd be dealing with a spirit?"

"Perhaps." The boy stood up abruptly. "Well, that's part of the puzzle, let's go get that water." I joined him and we exited the room heading back the way we came with the three watering cans. Down the hall we went, not a word to one another. It wasn't till I saw the painting of the sleeping man again did I stop beside it.

"What's wrong Ib?"

I touched the painting. There was a nagging feeling that this painting was somehow important in the entire scheme of things. I looked at it closer and saw something I hadn't noticed the first time. The man was wearing a silver watch; I squinted just enough to make out three silver numbers, 90:1. "9...01?"

"What?"

"His watch, it says 9:01."

"I think..." Garry had tilted his head all the way to the right as if reading the watch upside down. "his watch is facing him and upside down to us so it's 1:06."

"That makes sense. Maybe that's one of the numbers we plug into the equation."

"More than likely, now let's go get our water." I nodded and we continued to hurry back towards the start of the orange gallery. Once we reached it, we made a beeline for the vase. Garry held two of the water cans and I placed the third on the desk. Handing the vase carefully, I filled all three cans.

"Good, now let's go." I set the vase down and promptly froze. One of the mannequins in a red dress was moving slowly toward me. I hadn't noticed before, but the mannequins wore 3 inch heels of the matching colour as well.

"Death of the Individual. Not good." Garry grabbed my arm. "Run!" My knees unlocked and I bolted with him down the hall. I turned briefly and saw that two more of the mannequins had come to life and were slowly moving in our direction. "We're lucky those things don't have heads, they move much slower!"

"Well they'll feel their way to us eventually!" I cried.

"I know, let's get those roses watered and do some math!" We rounded the corner and I threw open the door to the flower room. We stopped in front of the bush, panting. Carefully, we watered the roses. The instant the water touched the buds, they began to open until all three roses were in full golden bloom. I set my watering can down and excused myself for a moment telling Garry I would be right back. Something bugged me and I wanted to see if my theory was correct. I exited the room quickly and went to the locked door to read the equation again.

The mannequins had not yet reached us but I knew they were on their way; I read the equation again. X - Y x Z =? This time it was obvious. The X, Y, and Z were in three colours. Silver, gold, bronze respectively. Garry came out of the room beside me.

"You worried me for a second, I thought you'd left something in the area with the mannequins."

"Sorry, I just had to re-read the equation." I pointed at the letters, "They're in different colours."

Garry leaned in to see for himself. "You're right...it all fits." he gestured at the silver X, "That would be...106 from the man's silver watch."

"And Y would be the gold roses. Quick, how many roses were there on that bush?"

"Er...7."

"Okay then 106 minus 7 equals...99." My brain was working unusually slow today.

"Times 3 bronze watering cans." Garry turned around after finishing his sentence. "Shoot, it's one of the Death of the Individuals!" I looked up to see the mannequin when I heard the sheer panic in his voice."Quick Ib, finish the problem, I'll try to hold it off as long as I can!" He stood up to confront it.

I turned my attention back to the equation. It was all me now, I'd have to do the math fast if we were to get out alive. From the corner of my eye I could see that the mannequin was getting closer, it's black arms were outstretched as if feeling for us. Garry took a protective stance in front of me. I closed my eyes, listening to the pounding of my poor heart. "99 times 3, 99 times 3, 99 times 3 is... is...297!"

_CLICK_. The door to the right cracked open. I hurriedly stood up and grabbed Garry's arm. The mannequin was right next to him by now, its fingers reaching for his chest; I tugged at him causing him to yelp and stumbled backwards. He regained his footing almost instantly and we ran through the door. Once through, he pulled it shut by the handle. We collapsed in a heap with our backs to the door.

"That...was close."

"Yeah..." I clutched at a stitch in my chest. "I never thought math could save my life before..."

"Anything can happen here..." Garry ran a hand through his hair.

I could only stare at him, before stammering, "T-thanks for protecting me, a-and being here with me..."

"I-it was nothing...it's a guys job to protect a girl right?" He looked down at his lap shyly; his right hand reached out and found my left hand, he squeezed it gently. "Right?" Garry's eyes found mine and I couldn't look away.

"R-right..." I felt my face heat up again.


	6. Chapter 6-Garry's Truth

**Author's Notes**

Hello readers! I've been so busy this summer altering wedding gowns so writting is VERY SLOW!This story is just so vivid in my mind so rest assured, I won't be flaking out and stopping in the middle. :) I'm sorry that everyone has to wait so long to read each chapter though, I wish time wasn't so difficult to get! Also, I changed the cover of the fanfiction, I thought it needed more Garry. (lol bias) My friend and I are the Garry and Ib respectively, the shot was taken by Dancing Squirrel Photography at the Mercer Museum shoot in May. Hope you guys like it!

This chapter is filled with nostalgia. I'm sure most of you will recognise where some of the occurrences in this chapter takes place. I won't tell much more as I'm sure you are impatient to get to the story, but one thing is certain. There is IBXGARRY in here. YES. YOU READ THAT RIGHT. Rejoice readers, this chapter is the one you've been waiting for! After you're done reading, if you could just leave a comment, some feedback or creative criticism, anything would be much appreciated! Enjoy!

_**CHAPTER V - Garry's Truth**_

__Garry and I sat unmoving for awhile just trying to catch our breath. We'd entered another gallery, a completely golden gallery. Looking to my right, it seemed as though this gallery was only a straight hallway with six paintings on the away from us. I released Garry's hand and stood up. I knew this place, I'd been here before...

"Six paintings..." My voice was quiet. I approached the first painting and tried to decipher it. The background was a wash of royal purple, there was a red thread running between what looked like 2 wooden planks. The red threw supported a long, uneven, horizonal blade looking object that reminded me of a butcher's knife. "Strange..." I moved to the second portrait and saw that the blade had been painted higher. The third portrait has the blade even higher than the second. I hurried over to the fourth one and saw the blade painted right before the edge of the frame.

"Ib." Garry was suddenly walking towards me very fast. His voice has a frantic edge to it, like a parent warning a child of danger.

"Relax Garry, I'm just checking these paintings out..." I hurried by the fifth painting without really looking at it, the blade seemed to be disappearing. I approached the last painting and reached my fingers out to touch it, "The blade's gone-"

"No!" In slow motion, I turned to the side and saw a blur of blue. I didn't understand what was happening as Garry's body collided hard with mine, pushing me into the wall. My eyes darted towards the ceiling and I watched in horror as a long gleaming blade came down onto the spot where I stood not a second ago. The blade buried itself about 4 inches into the ground sending long cracks out all around it. A beat passed before the blade began to move up into the ceiling again. The moment it was above our heads, Garry took my hand and dragged me to the left, through a golden door I didn't see from where we sat earlier.

"Oh my god..." I breathed as the door shut behind us. I collapsed to the ground, my mouth hanging open and my eyes still the size of clocks, "Oh my god, oh my god...that...that didn't just happen!"

"Oh yes, yes it did..." Garry sat down and ran a sleeve across his forehead, wiping fresh sweat from his brow. "This place is no joke."

"Are you fucking kidding me?! That blade...that goddamn _guillotine_ could have cut both of us clean in half! What-where am I? What-"

"It's okay!" I was instantly in Garry's embrace, he clutched me tightly to his chest as if afraid that if he didn't, he'd lose me. "I'm here Ib..."

My face was getting flushed again, but at the moment, it seemed less important than the question that suddenly popped into my head. I blurted it out thoughtlessly, "H-how did you know...?"

"Know what?" He whispered quietly into my hair.

"How did you know that, that _thing_ would come down?"

At first it was as if Garry didn't hear me, but then I felt his fingers run through my long locks. "You knew it too."

"What?"

"I said," The boy cleared his throat, "You knew it would come down too."

"What?" I pushed myself away from the violet haired boy, "No I didn't!" Something about Garry was very different now, a kind of sadness seemed to envelop him. I was no longer sure if I knew the person before me. He still looked the same, same face, same features, yet he's adopted a strange look in his eyes.

"I said...knew."

"What?"

The boy scratched his head, proping his elbow on his knee and letting his arm dangle horizontally from the ground beneath him. "Ib...do you know me?"

"Of course I know you, you're...Otonashi Garry, you're lost in the gallery..."

"Right on the first account, wrong on the second."

I had to think for a moment but it became instantly clear, "You're...not lost are you?"

"No, I'm not lost. I'm trapped." Garry smiled ruefully at me, "Rightfully speaking, I shouldn't even be alive. But somehow, here I am."

"But you are alive, you're right here." My voice was a mere whisper now, images were becoming clear in my mind, something that I'd forgotten was slowly coming to light.

"I am. That's the funny thing; I was killed 7 years ago." He watched my eyes become wide again, "Killed, by a girl named Mary."

"M-Mary...?" My blood ran cold at the name.

"That's right. She traded a red rose for my blue rose and then tore each and every petals off of it."

"W-what do you mean-"

"Ib." Garry's voice was suddenly very urgent; he grasped me by the shoulders. "Please, remember!"

"R-remember?" I stuttered as he shook me.

"We fell into the toybox! You lost your rose, and Marry picked it up from one of those creepy dolls! I traded her my rose to ensure your safety. Do you remember?" He stopped to catch a breath. " Then we went after her but soon I was unable to walk. I told you to go ahead!"

"I-I..." I closed my eyes, visions began to flood my brain, I saw long golden locks, bright blue eyes and a cheerful smile.

"Ib, try to remember, please I'm begging you. Remember." His voice was mesmerising, drawing forth memories more painful with each word.

My skull felt like it would crack apart, images unbided were coming together and forming a dreadful tale. "I-I..." The golden haired girl was holding something and mumbling to herself. It was hardly audible, but I strained and listened as hard as I could._ "...loves me, loves me not...loves me...Yes! Now I can..."_

"Ib?"

My eyes flew open, "Garry..."

His single blue eye was tender and concerned again, "Yes?"

"I-" My vision began to blur, "I...Mary...you..." I blinked, trying to see.

"W-what's wrong? Ib? Ib?!"

The last thing I saw was Garry lopsided, as my world turned on its axis and then a blackness engulfed my vision.

_His blue jacket spread around him as he came down on his knees. He was panting hard, like he'd just run a marathon. Clutching his chest, he looked up at me and smiled weakly._

_ "You go on ahead, I'll catch up soon."_

_ "Garry..."_

_ "Listen, I don't want to lie to you, but I don't want to tell you the truth either..."_

_ My eyes were filling with tears, "Garry!" I tugged at his jacket, "We have to catch her!"_

_ "Yeah, I'll be right there...just, go on ahead okay?" He slumped against the wall. "I just need to catch my breath..." He closed his blue eye, "Go on..."_

_ " O-okay, it's a promise okay? See you later!" I tearfully turned heel and ran towards the way Mary went. I looked back for just a moment and saw that he'd leaned up against the wall. His eyes closed and a tranquil look was upon his face. He's sleeping, I thought to myself, just sleeping... I rounded the corner._

_-later-_

"...Garry!" My body bolted upright, eyes wide and my breath uneven.

"Ib! What's wrong?!" A thud, then the violet haired boy suddenly appeared from behind a bookshelf, sprinting towards me. He skidded to a halt and knelt down on one knee, "What's the matter? Did you have a bad dream?" A cool finger wiped a bead of sweat from my temple, "Nothing's going to harm you..."

"Garry!" I launched myself at him, wrapping my arms around his waist and planting my face in his chest. He swiftly put his arms around me.

"I'm here Ib, I'm right here...don't worry..."

I clutched at his back , as if making sure he's real. For the first moment since I entered this nightmare, I knew what was going on. Everything had fallen into place. The man I was embracing right now was very much real, and thankfully alive. My eyes did not stop leaking, I was sobbing so hard I could hardly catch my breath. It took about a full minute for Garry to pull me gently off him. His fingers gently stroked my cheek as he whispered encouraging words.

"You're fine Ib, I'm fine, we're safe, don't cry, don't cry." Gingerly, the boy swept my bangs from my forehead and planted a kiss there. "We're okay..."

"I-I remember everything..." I choked on my tears and started coughing. The boy patted my back until the cough subsided. Catching my breath I whispered, "I remember Garry...I remember this place..."

"I'm glad..." His voice was quiet but warm, "I've missed you, Ib."

"I've missed you too." My fingers grasped the front of his green shirt bringing his face close to mine. I pressed my lips against his mouth and kissed him. At first he was caught off guard, but suddenly he was kissing me back and pulling me into his lap. My arms encircled his neck as I brought my body closer to him until we were so close I could hardly move. After a few minutes of pure bliss, he pulled away and took a deep breath.

"You...you've changed Ib."

A rush of warmth filled my cheeks and I laughed. "So have you."

"Not as much as you." Garry held me at arm's length and looked at me. "I almost didn't recognise you when you came into my room."

"Your room?"

"The Gallery of the Forgotten."

"Is that...the pretty room with all the colours?"

"That's the one." He knocked his forehead against mine, drawing away he whispered, "I saw you and thought to myself, 'Ib would look like that when she grew up'. So I left my frame to get a closer look. That's when I heard Edelweiss call you by your name."

"Ib."

"Yes, and then I knew, I knew you'd come back." The boy smiled at me, "But somehow I knew, this Ib was different, she'd grown up. She'd...forgotten me." He looked at me sadly with his deep blue eye, "She'd forgotten her Garry."

"I...I don't know how I could have forgotten..." I hated myself, how could I forget something so important?

"I'm sure it wasn't your own doing." Garry's eyes became hard. "This gallery changes people, it makes them lose their mind, forget who they were in the outside world..." He closed his eyes, "I almost forgot who I was but, I kept my sanity by thinking about you."

"Me?" I breathed.

"Yeah, I thought to myself that I had to stay awake, I had to keep being me or...or I'd never see Ib again."

"Garry...!" We embraced again. "I'm so glad you're not...gone."

"Me too." Garry ran his fingers through my hair. "I thought I was a goner too." He squeezed me gently, "But then I woke up."

"Yes?"

"I woke up in the Gallery of the Forgotten alongside several other people who were trapped in there." Garry took a deep breath before continuing, "They're all prisoners here...people from all walks of life, tricked out of their time by someone in the gallery."

"Someone..." I bit my lip, "Mary..."

"She's not your sister, Ib."

"I-I know..." I took a deep breath, "She's...a phantom, a painting child."

"Indeed." Garry's eyes were faraway again. "She wasn't the only one either. Everyone in the Gallery of the Forgotten are real people."

"So...do you think you'll be able to get out?"

He didn't look at me as he pulled me close. "I hope so..." Sniffing my hair he whispered , "I wonder if I'll have to pull someone into this world in order to leave." I pushed him away frightened, "No! Ib of course not you! I...I don't think I can do that to anyone..."

"Really?"

"Yes." Garry took my shoulders in his hands. "I could never confine someone to this hellhole."

"Garry..." My fingers ran up the side of his face and he closed his eyes. "I...I will take your place." "No! Ib, what are you saying?!" The boy shook his head frantically, "No, I could never make you do that for me!"

"Then how-"

"There must be another way!"

"I don't-" Suddenly it hit me, "No. Not Edelweiss."

"Oh of course not! No...I couldn't..._we_ can't do that to her." Garry ran a hand through his hair. "There has to be some way to leave without trading places with someone."

"I-I hope so..." I leaned forward and kissed the boy's cheek. It was just then that I noticed I'd been wearing his jacket; he must have put me in it when I passed out. "How long was I out?"

Garry leaned back on his palms with me still in his lap, "A few hours more or less." He took a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling. "Time is warped in here. I don't really know half the time how long it's been since I've been here."

"Well...I'm sixteen."

"Whoa! But...you were..." Garry's face burned.

"Yeah...nine." I felt the red rising in my face too.

"Haha..." Garry ran a hand down his face. "God I hope that doesn't make me a pedophile..."

"No! Of course not! I-" The blush was warming my face immensely, my ears were starting to fry. "I...liked you...a lot...too."

"Well that's a relief!" Garry pat my head, "I wonder...does that mean I'm...25 now?" I bit my lip. "Nah, no way." We both burst into laughter.

After a few moments we settled down. I couldn't believe how comfortable I felt now. This was the first time since we entered this nightmare that I've been completely at ease. I took Garry's hands and held them close to my face. So warm.

"Let's rest here for the night." I whispered quietly.

"Sure thing." Garry's fingers stroked my face. I had a thought just then and without speaking, I grasped for the necklace around my neck. "What's wrong Ib?"

"Nothing, I just..." I put Garry's hand down and used both hands to unclasped the rose necklace. Holding it at arms distance, I suddenly felt a strong dislike for the object.

"Is that...the necklace Mary got you?"

"Yes. I-I just don't think I can wear it anymore...it's just, there's so many memories..."

"I understand." Garry's hand enveloped mine, his fingers dislodged the chain from my grasp. Taking it in his hands, he regarded it carefully. "Then...I'll wear it."

"What?"

"I'll wear it." The boy's blue eye found mine and he smiled. "This necklace reminds me of you." he turned the silver medallion around so the rose faced me. " 'As the rose blooms full the heart follows' ?"

"Mary had that engraved for me."

"I see." Garry looked at me for a second then returned his attention back to the necklace. "Well, it suits you. You've grown up into a wonderful young lady."

"You're making me blush."

Garry chuckled, "Well, I noticed that you've taken up cursing, so maybe 'lady' isn't the word I'm looking for."

"I-I don't curse that often!" I caught myself stammering, "Just when...when absolutely necessary!"

Garry laughed, his arms embraced me.

"I know. I know, Ib." He gave me a squeeze and then released me. Carefully, he clasped the necklace around his neck, using the last silver ring, the necklace was long enough that the charm was partially showing from beneath his green shirt. "I'll wear it from now on, just think that you gave it to me as a gift."

"A gift..."

"Yes."

"Okay..."

He laughed. "Let's get some sleep." Reaching behind me, he retrieved the blue jacket that he'd wrapped around me. "This should be able to cover the both of us." He laid down and gestured for me to join him. I laid down and he wrapped an arm around me before covering us both with the jacket. "Is this good?"

"Yes. I'm very comfortable."

"I'm glad." Garry closed his eyes and I followed suit.

_-later-_

When I awoke next, Garry was already awake and staring up at the ceiling. His arm was still around me, but his thoughts seemed far off. I said nothing for a moment then gently brought a hand up, with a finger I poked his cheek with a finger.

"Ow! Oh Ib!" The violet haired man smiled down at me "Did you just wake?"

"Yeah." I sat up, his ripped coat fell from my shoulders. "And you?"

"I've been awake for awhile now." Garry brushed my bangs gently out of my eyes. "In this gallery insomnia is very common."

"What do you do in here?"

He sat up and tilted his head to the side all the while pulling his jacket on. "The Forgotten don't usually haunt the galleries like the portraits." He succeeded in pulling the jacket on, "The Forgotten don't want to stoop to the level of the portraits...and..." he took a deep breath. "neither do I."

"Garry..." Unconsciously, my hand had found his and I gripped it. "We'll find a way out...I won't leave you here again."

"I know." Garry smiled and brought our hands up. "Shall we go?"

"Yes!" Together we stood up, still holding hands, Garry guided me around a bookshelf and towards the door. As his fingers turned the knob I turned around.

"Wait.."

"Ib?"

I was looking at the painting that was in the room. We'd been right under it the entire time we'd been in this room but neither of us paid it any attention til now. It was a white canvas with four roses in a tall glass vase. A blue rose, a red rose, a yellow rose, and a white rose.

"Curious..." Something about the painting struck me but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

"Ib? What's wrong?"

I turned back to him and forced a grin, "N-Nothing, let's go."

We exited the room and entered yet another gallery. It was completely turquoise hall with a few paintings and three rag dolls hanging from the ceiling. I gripped Garry's hand, the dolls hanging from the ceiling were dressed very similarly to us; there was even a doll dressed in pale peach with platinum blonde hair.

"Don't look at them Ib..."

"Easier said than done..." I whispered biting my lip.

"Oh for sure, Guertena never makes anything that doesn't catch the eye." Garry let go of my hand and strode over to the far wall. There was a door there but it didn't look like a door at all. For one, it wasn't a single colour, but rather a mosiac of coloured tiles stacked in a seemingly random fashion, secondly there was no doorknob in sight. When I approached the door, Garry was on his knees inspecting it carefully. I stopped about 5 feet away unsure of whether to proceed or not.

"I wonder what this is about." Garry prodded a red block with his finger and was forced to dive away yelping when the entire panel of coloured tiles fell out onto the ground. He picked up the panel, rather, cube and stared at it.

"Garry!" There was suddenly words scrawled in red right beside the now completely black door. "Look, I think it's the instructions!"

He stood up and regarded the message, "_From the bottom left will be, 6 the colour of blood, 5 the sky's mirage, 4 the shade of fool's pride, 3 the a tone of a virgin's dress, 2 the ink of the octopus and 1 the scheme of mother nature. From the top right will be, 6 the colour of a dog's tongue, 5 the king's glory, 4 the deep sea, 3 the hue of a tiger's stripe, 2 the sky on a dreary day, and 1 the earth's plain shade. Bring these together and the door will open._" Garry bit his lip. "What in the world...?"

I walked closer to the door, avoiding the cubes as I went. Gingerly, I touched the door. At my touch, incisions began to form like fissures on the surface except, the fissures were all very evenly spaced and slowly raised lines were forming everywhere. I drew away backing into Garry's arms and stared in wonder, a moment later the door looked like a raised black chessboard. "Hmm...seems pretty self explanatory to me."

"Do tell." The boy whispered, his one hand squeezed my shoulder.

I turned to Garry and gestured for him to give me the block he was holding. He relinquished it without a word. "Okay...so '_from the bottom left will be... 6 the colour of blood_'." I placed the red block into one of the cubicles on the bottom row of the door towards the left. A tinking noise like a bell told me I was right.

"Oh!" It had finally clicked in Garry's mind too. "Alright, so it's a simple game of figuring out what colour goes on which row. Then..." He picked up another red block and placed it in the space directly next to the right side of the door. A loud rumbling beep resounded from the door causing both blocks to tumble out of their places. "W-what did I do wrong?"

"Er..." I glanced back at the scrawled instructions and reread it wordlessly. "Aha...it says, 'bottom left' for 'colour of blood' and...'1 the earths plain shade'. I guess the spot you put the red one in should be brown maybe?"

"Let's give it a shot..." Garry scourged the ground for a brown block. "Ib...there isn't one here..."

"That's impossible." I joined the search, getting on my knees. Soon it became apparent that he was right, there wasn't a brown block in sight.

"Well...maybe the colour isn't brown?"

"What other colour is the earth?"

"Green maybe?" he shrugged.

"No...that's 'the scheme of mother nature'." I took the only green block and handed it to him. Garry placed it into the the left top-most empty square of the door. The tinkling sound followed the maneuver.

"Right then...I guess, why don't we fill in the colours we know?" Garry got on his knees too as we began to sort the blocks out. In a few minutes we'd set blocks into piles on the ground. They were each about the size of my hand and perfectly square an each side; each was covered with a nice smooth paint finish. The two red blocks that had fallen from the door earlier had slightly chipped paint showing a sliver of brown that could only be wood. We stepped back away from the piles when we finished.

"Okay, we have 5 red blocks, 5 light blue, 2 gold, 3 white, 2 black and the 1 green one already in the door. Those are for 'from the bottom left'."

"Sounds good to me." Garry brushed off his knees. "And for 'from the top right' we have 6 pink, 5 purple, 4 deep blue, 2 orange, 2 gray, and no brown."

"We're missing 1 brown, 2 gold, 1 red, and 1 orange." I murmured. "Where can we find those I wonder...?"

Garry stooped down and began to put all the reds into their proper place. "They must be in this room, that's how all Guertena puzzles work." I nodded and joined him in putting all the blocks into their places. The door was looking very much like a colourful game of tetris, I couldn't help but wonder how it would open once we completed the puzzle.

After we finished, Garry turned his back to the door. "What now?"

"Let's scourged the room Ib, check the paintings. The blocks must be here. I'll look at the paintings on the left side you take the right."

"Sounds like a plan." I went on my tiptoes and planted a kiss on his cheek. "Be careful, there's not vase in this room."

"I will." Garry caught me in his arms and kissed me full on the mouth. I didn't want to let go. After a moment he released me and without another word, turned to the left side of the room. There were three paintings, one with nothing a completely red canvas, another with an egyptian looking motif, and the third a portrait of another rose, this one was pure white. I approached the only painting that looked relevant, passing the completely red painting and very suddenly felt a sharp crack on my head.

"Ow!" I knelt to the ground and clutched my skull. "What the hell?!" Garry abandoned his paintings and rushed to my side.

"Are you alright Ib?! That sounded like it hurt!" His hands were on the top of my head as if feeling for bumps.

"I-I'm alright..." One hand drew away from my head and instinctively reached into my pocket to pull out my rose. As I thought, a petal fell off almost immediately. "So much for being careful..."

"I don't blame you, who would have thought that the block was inside a doll?" Garry gingerly picked up a golden block that was beside me and with a finger gestured for me to look up. I did so and saw that the rag doll that was wearing the same clothes as me had a hole in its belly. Guertena must have made it so that it dropped a block on whoever walked beneath it.

"Dark sense of humour the man had..." I carefully tucked the flower back into my pocket.

"Oh for sure..." Garry helped me onto my feet, "How's your head?"

"It's aching but I'll be just fine." I forced a smile at him, "Go ahead, put the block in the wall. I'll keep looking."

"Alright." Garry gave me a gentle pat on the head and headed to the door. I turned back to the center painting, my head still throbbing. The frame was a simple wood with a egyptian statue on the canvas, a Sphinx I think it was, against a sand dune background. In the Sphinx's paw was yet another golden block that blended almost entirely into the sand. My fingers touched the surface of the painting when I head Garry give a yelp behind me. Spinning around, I saw that he was on the ground clutching a red block "I'm okay! I'm okay!" he called out for my benefit.

Laughing to myself I returned to the task at hand, my fingers found the block on the painting and I tried to pry it out.

"_WHAT ARE YOU DOING?_" a low musical voice asked quietly. I gasped and withdrew my hand. If I didn't see the mouth fo the sphinx move, I may not have believed it had spoken. "_I WILL ASK AGAIN, WHAT ARE YOU DOING, HUMAN?_"

"I-I was just...I need that block."

"_THIS? WHY IT'S THE TREASURE I WAS ENTRUSTED TO PROTECT_."

Oh boy. "Uhm...I don't suppose I could have it?"

_"NO ONE MAY TOUCH THE TREASURE WITHOUT GOING THROUGH ME."_

That didn't bode well, I bit my lip, sphinxes were the riddlers of Egypt. I had more than an inkling of what was to come next. "So...if I answer your riddle I can have it?"

_ "CORRECT."_

"And...should I fail?"

A beat of silence then slying the sphinx's mouth curved into a devious grin. "_THEN I WILL BITE YOUR HEAD OFF_."

"Wonderful...a Guertena creature...of course..." I shook my head firmly, I wasn't going to let a threat like that get to me. My legs stood their ground and I took a deep breath, "Okay, I'm ready, let's do it."

"V_ERY WELL HUMAN, LISTEN CAREFULLY._" The sphinx cleared her throat and began again in a low but sweet tone,_ "'EVERYONE WANTS TO COME TO ME, BUT ALL FEAR THE JOURNEY. ALL SAY I AM GOOD, YET HERE I DO NOT EXIST. WHAT AM I?'_ "

I ran my fingers through my hair and repeated the riddle beneath my breath. "Everyone wants to come to me", so a place maybe...? "Fear the journey"...a place to be feared, a jail? No, no one wants to go to a jail, a good place that people fear to go to...

"_SHALL I REPEAT THE RIDDLE?_"

"Um, yes please." She repeated it again in that same low, lovely, voice. "So, how many times can I guess?"

"_ONCE_."

Great. The last two lines of the riddle bounced back and forth in my head. "All say I am good", does goodness not reside on earth? Or maybe the riddle meant inside the gallery... "Here I do not exist", I was biting my tongue now. Something about this riddle was bugging me. It seemed that the answer was obvious yet was escaping me. Someplace that all want to go yet can't stand to take the journey, its a good place but doesn't exist-

Oh. Stupid me. "The answer is 'heaven' isn't it?"

"_VERY GOOD_." The creature smiled before tossing the the block at me. At first I thought it might just hit the edge of the frame, but the canvas seemed to become ripples of water and the block floated out from it.

"Thank you!" I plucked the gold block out of space.

"_GOOD LUCK, HUMAN_." My eyes fixed on the sphinx but she had closed her eyes. It was as if the painting itself lost its life; the colours that were so vibrant a moment ago went stark and dreary. Frowning rather sadly, I returned to the door and placed the golden block into its proper place. Garry came up behind me plugging the brown block into place. There were two tinkles from the unseen bell.

"Good job." Garry patted my shoulder.t.

"Only one to go right?"

"Yes, an orange one. And I've already found it."

"Oh wonderful!"

"Except..." Garry popped his fraying collar, "I don't know how to get it."

"What do you mean?"

"It's easier to just show you..." He took my hand in his and guided me to his side of the room. There were three more paintings here, a painting of a silver thimble, a boxing glove that Garry walked further away from when we approached it and a Garry doll lying on the ground that Garry must have torn open to get the brown block. The last painting was done in what looked like pastel; there was a table with a orange block on it against a white background.

"Oh..."

"Yeah...it's right there but I can't seem to get it." Garry stuck out a finger and poked the canvas, the moment his finger touched the canvas, the orange block didn't come out. "I think it's just painted." He retracted his arm wearily.

"Have you tried reaching all the way through the canvas?" My arm went into the painting, I felt nothing but air. "No...that's not it..." my hand was visible in the picture touching the orange block but I could not seem to grasp it. I pulled my arm out and frowned.

Garry heaved a frustrated sigh before stabbing the canvas with his finger again. He must not have judged his strength correctly for his finger tore a hole into the paper. "Oh no! Oh-" His hysterics stopped. "Oh..." Unfurling his hand, he used the rest of his fingers to tear apart the painting. Uneasy, I backed away. Garry's other hand jumped into the fray too shredding the waxy canvas into pieces that slowly floated to the floor. After a minute he triumphantly pulled away from the now gapping white hole in the wall. There were two mirrors, one angled vertically just behind the canvas and the other on the farside of the hole, both showing a table and orange block .

"That is impossibly clever." Garry gestured for me to look directly north from the block. A piece of wood was glued to the top of the cubical white hole with an orange block glued to it suspended over the mirror. We'd been staring at a reflection through a piece of wax paper.

"That...is trippy." I blinked to clear my head.

Garry reached into the hole and tore the orange block off its perch. "Indeed. Guertena's never out of ideas it seems..." We walked towards the tetris wall. Halfway there I stopped and turned around. "Ib?"

"Hold on..." I walked to the white rose painting back on my side of the room. I couldn't help but admire the workmanship; the entire time I'd been in this gallery, I'd felt like I was in a nightmare, trapped and too busy trying to get out to really enjoy the works of art that were here. Now that I thought about it, this was the perfect opportunity to observe a fellow artist's style. My fingers instinctively reached out and touched the white rose.

For a white rose on a white canvas, it stood out beautifully. Guertena must have mixed together a pallet of blues with black and white; there were at least 6 subtle shades of blue grey and certain areas of the painting were left white. The thorned stem and leaves were a captivating two toned green that seemed too real for words; I marvelled at the skills display, wishing I'd thought of doing that. Garry approached me silently.

"I'm sure she's alright."

"What?" I whirled around, confused.

"Edelweiss, I'm sure she's alright."

"Oh! Oh...of course, she must be." I bit my lip again, guiltily. I had not given Edelweiss a thought when I saw this painting but now I felt the brunt of the weight of dread on my shoulders. She was a tiny girl in a scary gallery with no one around to protect her; in no way did the situation look positive. I blinked back and tear and took Garry's hand. "Let's go. We've...got to find her."

"Alright then, onward!" he agreed.

We walked to the door and placed the last block into its slot. There was another bell noise then nothing. We stood wordlessly waiting. A second passed before we heard a rumbling, Garry pushed me behind him protectively. Just then, the colourful tetris wall began to crumble apart. Garry pushed me to the towards the center of the room fully expecting the blocks to tumble like debris towards us.

But it didn't, the blocks seemed to be controlled by another force, this force pushed them in the opposite direction, away from us. The door was crumbling out allowing light from the next room to shine into ours, a pure white light, so bright it was glowing.

"Is that the way out?!" I yelled loudly over the rumbling.

"No idea, let's go!" Garry took my hand. The right side of the wall had already completely tumbled over, we climbed over the broken blocks into another nightmare.


End file.
